BX  5199   .W6  D3 

Daniell,  George  William, 

1853-1931. 
Bishop  Wilberforce 


Digitized  by 

tlie  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2015 

littps://arcliive.org/details/bisliopwilberforcOOdani 


1^ 


Samuel  WileerfuRck,  Bishop  of  Wincuestf.r. 
{From  a  Portrait  by  G.  RiCHMOKD,  R.A  ) 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE 


G.  W.  DANIELL,  M.A. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
SIIjc  Bibersilic  ^rcss,  fflambriSee 
1891 


BY 


CONTENTS. 


CUAP.  PAGE 

r.      INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER              ...           ...  ...  1 

II.      EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING     ...           ...  ...  9 

III.  ARCHDEACON,    DEAN,  BISHOP       ...           ...  ...  20 

IV.  ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE  ...           ...           ...  ...  38 

V.      DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES                 ...            ...  ...  71 

VI.     THE   REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION               ...  ...  109 

VII.     THE    BISHOP    AND    THE    BROAD    CHURCH  PARTY  141 

VIII.      RITUALISM  AND  CHURCH   ESTABLISHMENT  ...  168 

IX.      BISHOP     WILBERFORCE's     LITERARY  INFLUENCE 

AND   PERSONALITY  ...           ...           ...  ...  196 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Dean  Burgon,  in  liis  work  entitled  Lives  of  T'lvclve 
Good  Men,  describes  and  speaks  of  Samuel  Wilberforce 
as  the  remodeller  of  the  episcopate.  It  will  be  the 
aim  of  these  pages  to  endeavour  to  present  his  life, 
work,  character,  and  influence  mainly  from  the  point 
of  view  thus  suggested.  We  owe  a  great  debt  of 
gratitude  to  those  who  will  give  us  right  and  high 
ideas  of  the  duties  and  possibilities  that  any 
important  rank  or  position  involves.  The  debt  is 
increased  when  the  true  ideal,  though  once  grasped 
and  understood,  has  been  lost,  lowered,  and  obscured 
by  the  heavy  pressure  of  unfavourable  conditions,  acting 
unrelieved  over  a  long  period.  Since  the  Reformation, 
and  more  still  since  the  Revolution,  conditions  of  appoint- 
ment, and  the  common  opinion,  had  led  men  too  little  to 
seek  the  office  of  a  bishop  in  the  Church  of  England  as 
"  a  good  work."  It  was  too  much  the  reward  of  political 
service,  valued  for  its  secular  rather  than  its  spiritual 
opportunities,  favouring  an  attractive  combination  of 

B 


2 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


dignity  and  case.  A  great  apathy  fell  on  the  Church 
iu  England,  partially  deprived,  under  the  circumstances 
just  characterized,  of  her  proper  leaders.  In  a  critical 
moment  of  awakening,  the  subject  of  this  memoir  will 
be  seen,  as  Bishop  of  Oxford,  to  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  putting  a  new  life  into  the  order  to 
Avhich  he  belonged.  There  was  a  truth  in  words  written 
of  him  by  his  colleague,  the  Bishoi3  of  Rochester,  towards 
the  close  of  his  life — "  You  have  introduced  such  a 
system  into  the  episcopate  that  one  has  time  for 
nothing."  ^ 

Nothing  strikes  us  more  than  the  immense  variety 
of  talent  and  power  that  was  displayed  by  Bishop 
Wilberforce  in  his  life  and  work.  Take  in  hand  what 
he  would,  he  might  be  relied  on  to  face  the  public  with 
success,  and  carry  through  his  undertaking  without  the 
heavy  disability  that  is  incurred,  especially  in  introduc- 
ing apparent  novelties,  by  seeming  to  fail.  Other  men, 
from  timidity,  or  want  of  confidence  in  themselves  or 
their  calling,  had  hesitated  to  attempt  all  that  their 
oflfice  and  position  really  required  them  to  do.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  copy,  or  even  to  make  improvements  on, 
that  which  has  once  been  done  ;  and  if  it  is,  as  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  biographer  says,  "  that  his  idea  of  true 
episcopacy  is  now  a  familiar  one,  and  to  those  of  a 
younger  generation  a  matter  of  course,"  -  it  is  largely 
because  his  gifts  enabled  him  to  give  a  practical 
illustration  of  the  way  in  which  its  many  and  various 
requirements  might  be  met.  There  were  few  parts  of 
the  work  that  belongs  to  the  episcopal  offi-ce,  on  which 
he  did  not  fearlessly  and  boldly  embark,  considering  its 


1  Life,  iii.  p.  375. 


Ibid.  i.  p.  344. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


3 


relation,  not  only  to  his  own  diocese,  but  to  the  whole 
state  of  England,  and  the  Church  at  large. 

Thus  it  is,  as  it  has  been  said,  that  the  life  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce  touches  all  the  great  ecclesiastical,  and 
most  of  the  great  social,  questions  of  his  day.  "No 
ecclesiastic  within  living  memory — scarcely  any  English- 
man— has  enjoyed  a  larger  share  of  personal  celebrity 
than  he.  It  would  be  easy  to  recall  the  names  of  men 
who  eclipsed  him  by  their  achievements,  or  by  the 
brilliancy  of  their  writings;  but  it  remains  a  fact  not- 
withstanding, that  as  a  public  man,  Samuel  Wilberforce, 
by  the  general  suffrage  of  English  society,  was  without 
a  peer."  ^  In  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  amongst  all 
classes,  he  was  known,  not  merely  by  reputation,  but 
personally.  His  power  of  moving  about  was  extra- 
ordinary ;  it  was  not  uncommon  for  the  morning  of  one 
day  to  find  him  in  London,  the  afternoon  in  his  diocese, 
and  the  evening  at  some  house  in  the  neighbouring 
county — the  centre  of  great  and  important  labours 
during  the  working  hours,  and  the  chief  attraction  of 
some  social  gathering  at  their  close.  We  may  say 
of  him  that  he  Avas  amongst  the  first  to  show  in 
railroad  days  how  much  might  be  made  of  time,  and 
how  little  might  be  made  of  distance,  by  one  who 
combined  power  to  do  what  was  suggested  to  him 
by  a  high  idea  of  the  call  made  on  his  energies 
by  the  office  he  held,  with  a  really  unusual  capacity 
of  mind  and  body  for  hard  and  continuous  labour. 
He  was  often  suffering  from  severe  illness,  and  in  his 
diaries  entries  such  as  "in  much  suffering  all  day," 
"  the  pain  great,"  are  by  no  means  uncommon.''  His 
domestic  afflictions  also  were  from  many  causes  un- 
'  Burgon,  Lives  of  Twelve  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  2.       ^  Life,  i.  p.  348. 


4 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


usually  great  and  painful.  We  find  him,  however, 
rising  superior  to  these  hindrances,  and  in  the  very 
midst  of  them,  though  obviously  a  man  of  deep  feeling 
and  keen  sensibility,  keeping  stedfastly  to  work  with 
an  unabated  courage  and  vigour. 

We  shall  see  that  his  ideal  of  what  a  bishop  might 
be,  and  should  be,  was  not  merely  left  as  a  tradition 
peculiar  to  the  diocese  in  which  he  worked.  It  has 
become  the  inheritance  of  the  Church  and  the  world ; 
and  gives  a  reality  to  the  leadership  under  which  it  is 
appointed  that  the  Church  should  work,  such  as  has 
not  failed  to  give  a  new  enthusiasm  and  thoroughness 
to  the  labours  of  all  subordinate  ranks.  Oxford,  by 
position  and  circumstance,  was,  as  Canon  Ashwell  has 
pointed  out,^  singularly  adapted  to  make  this  new 
reading  of  a  long  otherwise  understood  story  far-spread 
and  widely  known.  The  accessibility  of  London,  the 
flood  of  thinking  men  constantly  pouring  forth  from  the 
University,  Avhich  he  could  not  fail  to  influence,  made 
his  personality  and  his  ideas  a  power  with  many. 
Beginning  his  occupation  of  his  see  at  a  comparatively 
early  age,  he  had  time  before  him,  and  was  able  to 
start  on  needed  changes  and  reforms  without  undue 
haste.  We  may  then  accept  the  estimate  which  speaks 
of  his  career  "as  offering  an  example  of  that  which 
is  too  rarely  seen — the  concurrence  of  capacity  and 
opportunity." 

This  career  began  at  a  time  of  crisis  in  the  history  of 
the  Oxford  diocese,  and  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Dr.  Pusey,  in  a  letter  written  to  the 
Bishop-elect,  after  his  election  by  the  Christ  Church 
chapter,  characterizes  Oxford  as  a  See  which  at  that 

1  LiJ\;  i.  p.  348. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


5 


time  most  of  all  requires  "  supernatural  gifts."  i  Dr. 
Newman's  secession  had  brought  about  a  time  of 
intense  anxiety,  and  a  great  unsettlement.  In  his 
letter,  Dr.  Pusey  summarizes  the  position  in  these 
words : — "  As  far  as  I  can  see,  what  is  chiefly  at  work 
is  not  attraction  towards  Rome,  but  despondency  about 
ourselves."  To  the  task  of  reassurance  the  new  bishop 
was  called.  He  has  said  of  himself  that  "  he  could  not 
have  borne  to  be  the  bishop  of  a  party,"  and  very  early 
in  his  career,  while  he  was  yet  Archdeacon  of  Surrey, 
we  find  him  thus  expressing  his  feelings  on  this  point 
in  a  letter  to  Sir  Charles  Anderson : — "  Hook's  letter 
pained  me  deepl}'.  It  is  the  very  opposite  of  his  own 
'  Call  to  Union,'  and  it  seems  to  me  really  quite  dreadful 
that  he  should  avow  that  he  thinks  it  a  duty  to  split 
into  a  party.  For  this  is  really  the  force  of  his  words, 
whereas  it  is  our  very  blessedness  in  the  Church  to 
know  no  other  party  or  leader,  but  to  be  content  in  her 
to  take  the  good  of  all,  and  be  followers  of  none 
beside."'-  He  was  keenly  alive  to  the  advantage  that 
it  might  have  been  to  him  to  be  a  party  man.  "You 
do  not  suppose,"  he  writes  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  C.  P. 
Golightly  in  18.57,  "that  I  am  so  blind  as  not  to  see 
perfectly  that  I  might  have  headed  the  Evangelical  body 
and  been  seated  by  them  at  Lambeth."  ^  An  ever- 
increasing  number  of  imitators  of  his  methods  of 
government  and  administration,  and  of  his  principles, 
attest  the  correctness  of  the  anticipations  contained  in 
a  letter  to  the  Oxford  Journal,  written  by  one  of  his 
old  clergy  just  after  his  death.  "No  one,"  says  that 
letter,  "  strove  more  than  he  to  point  out  the  true 

1  Life,  i.  pp.  300-1.  2         i  p_  197. 

3  Ibid.  i.  p.  3G0. 


6 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


position  which  our  Church  occupies.  No  one  resisted 
more  strongly  than  he  did  the  importation  of  doctrines 
or  acts  foreign  to  her  spirit.  Doubtless  this  feature  of 
his  character  will  come  out  more  strongly  as  years  roll 
onward ;  and  the  debt  which  Churchmen  owe  to  him 
will  be  more  fully  acknowledged.  The  picture  which 
by  his  life  he  has  drawn  of  the  Church  of  England,  both 
in  her  adherence  to  scripture  and  to  Catholic  antiquity, 
will  be  felt  to  be  a  true  one." 

As  regards  the  materials  available  for  a  sketch  of  his 
life  and  influence,  a  large  number  of  his  friends  now 
alive  agree  in  saying  that  there  is  little  to  add  to  the 
facts  already  collected  and  published  in  the  Life  of 
Bisliop  Wilhcrforcc,  issued  in  three  volumes  by  Murray, 
and  written  by  Canon  Ashwell  and  R  G.  Wilberforce. 
Their  opinion  also  decides  that  "  Dean  Burgon's  is 
by  far  the  best  short  sketch."  The  Dean  succeeds  in 
making  the  great  Bishop  live  again  before  us,  and  lets 
us  see  him  as  he  was  to  those  who  knew  him  best. 

It  was  originally  intended  that  the  three-volume 
Life  should  have  been  entirely  completed  by  Canon 
Ashwell.  He  died,  however,  after  publishing  the  first 
volume,  and  arranging  the  plan  of  the  other  two.  He 
found  that  the  Bishop's  life  naturally  divided  into  three 
well-marked  stages  of  different  character  and  com- 
plexion.^ The  first  of  these,  which  exhibits  Bishop 
Wilberforce  "  in  the  making,"  and  in  the  full  tide  of 
growth,  progress,  and  success,  ends  with  the  Hampden 
Controversy  at  the  close  of  1847,  and  the  opening  of 
1848.  The  second  extends  from  this  date  to  1860;  in 
it  the  Bishop  encountered  a  storm  of  opposition  in  his 
dioceso,  and  outside  it,  as  being  "  one  who  favoured  the 
1  Life,  Introduction,  p.  xxxiii. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


7 


unpopular  school  of  the  Oxford  theology,"  At  the  end 
he  came  out  from  the  ordeal  witli  success,  and  was 
henceforth  looked  up  to  by  Churchmen  as  "  a  leader 
■whose  grasp  of  first  principles  was  firm,  and  who  not 
only  liad  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  but  the  capacity 
to  give  them  effect."  In  the  third  period,  from  18C0  to 
1873,  "he  stood  out,  not  only  as  undisputed  leader 
among  the  English  bishops,  but  also  as  undisi^uted 
master  of  his  diocese,  and  as  something  more  than 
either.  He  was  no  longer  merely  '  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford,'  and  foremost  among  his  equals,  but  he  had 
become  the  representative  man  of  the  English  episcopate, 
in  great  measure  the  representative  man  of  the  English 
Church ;  and  such  as  by  this  time  he  had  become,  such 
he  remained  during  the  rest  of  his  life."  ^  In  his  diaries, 
letters,  and  writings,  his  biographers  have  found  an 
abundant  material  forfilh'ng  in  the  outlines  thus  marked 
out.  It  was  his  custom  to  keep  somewhat  full 
chronicles  of  his  daily  doings,  and  his  thoughts  of  men 
and  things,  as  well  as  notes  of  conversations  in  which 
he  took  part.  These,  witli  their  revelations  of  his 
inward  and  private  life,  have  been  drawn  upon  in  the 
last  two  volumes  of  his  Life  with  a  certain  want  of  tact 
and  judgment,  calculated  sometimes  to  leave  an  un- 
favourable impression  as  to  some  of  his  motives  and  feel- 
ings.'^ The  use  made  of  them  illustrates  the  dangers 
of  diary-keeping,  when  it  goes  beyond  the  barest  record 
of  facts,  and  chronicles  phases  of  thought  and  feeling 
which  were  probably  after  all  but  transitory.  The 
Bishop's  letters  are  a  fruitful  source  of  information 
concerning  him ;  he  had  a  large  private  correspondence, 

1  Life,  Introduction,  p.  xxxvi. 

2  Quarterly  Eevdew,  No.  309,  Jan.  1883. 


8 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


besides  his  official  ona,  and  made  time  for  very  full 
letters  to  his  family  and  friends.  Every  one  has  heard 
of  him  as  writing  a  great  deal  in  the  train,  or  in 
carriages ;  and  perhaps,  in  illustration,^  the  story  may 
be  quoted  of  the  delivery  at  his  address,  Eaton  Place, 
of  a  letter  addressed  to  "S.  Oxon,  Esq.,  Rail,  Near  Read- 
ing," in  answer  to  one  written  on  a  railway  journey,  and 
dated  from  the  train.  He  liked,  as  far  as  he  could,  to 
answer  his  letters  himself.-  In  answer  to  the  question 
why  he  did  not  keep  a  secretary,  he  said  once  to  a 
clergyman,  "  that  it  would  certainly  be  a  great  relief  to 
do  so,  but  then  so  many  people  would  be  disappointed." 
It  was  his  feeling  that  a  few  kind  words  from  liimself 
would  lessen  the  annoyance  of  necessary  refusals ;  and, 
as  a  consequence,  he  has  left  in  his  many  letters  a 
large  material  for  his  biography.  From  the  sources 
here  indicated,  the  substance  of  the  following  pages 
is  mainly  drawn.  The  Life  of  Bishop  Wilbcrforce,  by 
Canon  Ashwell  and  Mr.  K  G.  Wilberforce,  and  Dean 
Burgon's  sketch  from  the  Quarterly,  have  been  freely 
used.  Often,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Cuddesdon  troubles, 
and  the  difficulties  with  Dr.  Pusey,  the  writer  has  only 
attempted  to  adapt  to  the  limits  of  this  little  book  the 
work  of  the  writers  mentioned  above.  An  old  friend 
of  the  great  Bishop  suggested  the  desirability  of  com- 
binina;  with  Mr.  R.  G.  Wilberforce's  work  Dean  Burgon's 
views ;  and  tliis  hint  has  been  taken. 

^  Life,  Introduction,  p.  xxxi.  -  Life,  iii.  p.  409. 


CHAPTER  11. 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING. 

There  is  always  an  interest  in  the  predisposing 
causes  found  in  descent  and  heredity  to  any  eminent 
and  distinguished  life.  Next  it  is  desirable  to  notice 
the  circumstances  of  training  and  education  that  have 
contributed  to  the  successful  development  of  the 
opportunities  offered  by  natural  gifts.  We  will  there- 
fore glance  briefly  at  the  history  of  Samuel  Wilberforce 
from  these  two  points  of  view,  and  trace  out  shortly  the 
genesis  of  the  powers  and  ideas  that  made  his  episcopate 
such  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  English  Church. 

The  family  of  Wilberforce,  or  Wilberfoss,  can  be 
traced  back  as  far  as  the  days  of  Henry  II.,  and  it  is 
remarkable  in  its  long  history  that  no  member  of  it 
seems  to  have  entered  Holy  Orders  till  the  generation 
to  which  Samuel,  and  his  two  brothers,  Robert  and 
Henry,  belonged.  The  work  of  their  illustrious  father, 
William  Wilberforce,  in  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves, 
is  well  known ;  and  it  is  to  him  that  the  change  in  the 
family  traditions  which  gave  three  of  his  four  sons  to 
Holy  Orders  may  be  ascribed.  He  was  one  of  the 
little  colony  of  Evangelicals  who,  residing  at  Clapham, 
were  called  somewhat  contemptuously  "The  Clapham 
Sect."    Here  it  was  that  on  September  7th,  1805,  his 


10 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


third  son  Samuel  was  bom.  We  know  very  little  of 
this  son's  childhood;  but  we  can  understand  the 
atmosphere  of  thought  and  life  in  which  he  received 
his  earliest  impressions. 

His  father  seems  to  have  taken  a  special  interest  in 
his  training  and  development.  We  are  told  how  the 
elder  Wilberforce  was  accustomed  to  make  his  son  get 
up  subjects  of  importance  and  deliver  orations  on  them ; 
and  that  it  was  in  this  way  that  he  acquired  his 
remarkable  power  of  public  speaking.  He  was  never 
sent  to  a  large  school,  or  a  public  school;  his  father 
feared  them,  as  likely,  through  a  defective  sense  of 
honour  cultivated  in  them,  to  cause  a  want  of  confidence 
between  children  and  parents.  "  I  know,"  he  says  in  a 
letter  to  his  son,  "  that  this  is  often  one  of  the  conse- 
quences of  a  youth's  living  at  a  great  school,  especially 
if  his  parents  are  pious,  that  he  has  one  set  of  principles 
and  ways  of  going  on  in  all  respects  at  school,  and 
another  at  home."  Thus  he  was  educated  chiefly  by 
private  tutors. 

There  is  still  extant  a  long  series  of  some  six  hundred 
letters,  which  his  father  began  to  write  to  him  in  his 
twelfth  year.  These  bear  evident  traces  of  careful 
study,  and  had,  as  his  father  desired,  a  most  important 
influence  on  his  son's  development  and  character.  The 
results  and  nature  of  these  letters  are  thus  summarized 
by  Canon  Ashwell : — "  Nascent  faults  carefully  marked 
and  checked,  personal  habits  of  upright  conduct  strenu- 
ously enforced,  shrewd  practical  counsels  as  to  social 
duties  and  conduct  towards  his  equals  constantly 
suggested,  and  all  these  strung  upon  the  one  thread  of 
ever-repeated  inculcation  of  the  duty  of  private  prayer 
as  the  one  holdfast  of  life, — these  remarkable  lettez's 


EAELY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING. 


11 


exhibit  the  influences  which  formed  that  soHd  substratum 
of  character  which  underlay  the  brilliant  gifts  and  the 
striking  career  of  Samuel  Wilberforce."  ^ 

One  or  tvvo  jDractical  suggestions,  made  about  the 
time  that  he  matriculated  at  Oriel,  are  worth  quoting 
as  having  been  so  evidently  acted  upon.  Thus  his 
father  impresses  on  him  the  following  as  a  principle 
upon  which  he  himself  has  often  acted,  e.  g.  the  bringing 
together  all  men  who  are  like-minded,  and  who  may 
probably,  at  some  time  or  other,  combine  and  concert 
for  the  public  good.  He  also  advises  him  never  to  omit 
an  opportunity  of  getting  acquainted  with  any  good  man 
or  any  useful  man.  Other  suggestions,  such  as  that 
one  should  always  pay  ready  money,  should  be  hospitable 
but  not  lavish,  that  Sunday  breakfast-parties  should 
be  avoided,  all  bear  witness  to  the  careful,  wise,  and 
sympathetic  guidance  that  helped  to  ripen  to  a  healthy 
maturity  Samuel  Wilberforce's  many  and  conspicuous 
natural  gifts. 

In  Michaelmas  term,  1823,  he  followed  his  brother 
Robert  to  Oriel.  During  his  Oxford  career  Oriel  was 
almost  at  the  height  of  its  fame,  and  supplied,  in  its 
fellows,  scholars,  and  commoners,  a  stimulating  intel- 
lectual atmosphere,  which  had  its  full  effect  on  Samuel 
Wilberforce's  development.  He  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  debates  of  the  United  Debating  Society,  speaking 
on  the  Liberal  side,  and  being  therefore  often  in  the 
minority.  His  father  supplied  him  with  material  for 
some  of  his  speeches,  warning  him  against  being  too 
much  of  a  politician,  and  adding — "  Watch,  my  dear 
Samuel,  with  jealousy  whether  you  find  yourself  unduly 
solicitous  about  acquitting  yourself  creditably,  whether 
1  Life,  i.  p.  3. 


12 


BISHOP  WILEEKFOECE. 


you  are  much  chagrined  when  you  fail,  or  are  puffed 
up  by  your  success.  Undue  sohcitude  about  popiilar 
estimation  is  a  weakness  against  which  all  real 
Christians  must  guard  with  the  most  jealous  watchful- 
ness." He  was  not  at  this  time  in  robust  health,  and 
took  his  exercise  chiefly  on  horseback  ;  nevertheless  he 
managed  to  combine  steady  and  moderate  reading  with 
a  thorough  use  of  all  the  social  opportunities  of  the 
University. 

In  the  Michaelmas  term  of  1826  he  took  a  first 
class  in  mathematics,  and  a  second  in  classics.  He 
tried  once  for  a  Fellowship  at  Balliol,^  but  about  this 
time  his  engagement  to  Miss  Emily  Sargent  was 
practically  arranged  after  a  long  attachment,  and  his 
thoughts  were  taken  up  with  preparations  for  his 
marriage  and  for  Holy  Orders.  It  was  finally  settled 
that  his  marriage  should  take  place  in  the  summer  of 
1828,  at  the  end  of  which  year  he  would  be  old  enough 
to  be  ordained  Deacon. 

On  June  11th,  1828,  Samuel  Wilberforce  was  married 
at  Lavington  to  Emily  Sargent.  Through  his  wife  at 
a  later  period  the  Lavington  property  passed  to  the 
then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  made  him,  as  he  delighted 
to  describe  himself,  a  "  Sussex  Squire."  On  December 
21st,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  ordained  Deacon  in 
Christ  Church  Cathedral,  beginning  his  work  in  the 
diocese  that  he  afterwards  made  famous.  His  curacy 
was  a  sole  charge — Checkendon,  near  Henley-on- 
Thames. 

Just  before  his  ordination  he  expresses,  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Patrick  Boyle,  his  determination  to  moderate  his 
political  feelings,  which  only,  in  his  opinion,  became  a 
1  Life,  i.  p.  32. 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING. 


13 


clergyman  when  mildly  shown.  During  his  stay  at 
Checkendon  his  political  views  underwent  a  complete 
change ;  he  seemed  to  see  in  England,  and  almost  all 
other  Continental  nations,  a  state  of  things  foreboding 
some  storm,  and  says  of  himself  that,  whereas  he  was 
once  a  Radical,  he  was  now,  with  some  exceptions,  a 
very  high  Tory.  He  had  already  been  offered  prefer- 
ment by  Bishop  J.  B.  Sumner  of  Chester,  and  had 
refused  it ;  but  some  sixteen  months  after  his  coming 
to  Checkendon,  BishoiD  Sumner  of  Winchester  offered 
him  the  pleasant  Rectory  of  Brighstone,  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  he  was  inducted  into  it  in  June  1830. 
In  his  first  curacy,  with  its  non-resident  rector,  he  had 
to  work  on  his  own  lines,  but  there  are  traces  of  his 
work  being  well  and  wisely  done  ;  and  he  was  thus 
fitted  for  the  larger  sphere  to  which  he  was  removed 
while  yet  under  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  left 
pleasant  memories  of  his  work  and  his  personality 
among  the  simple  inhabitants  of  the  secluded  Oxford 
village,  who  remembered  him,  even  in  the  days  of  his 
greatness,  as  "  our  Mr.  Wilberforce." 

His  first  two  years  at  Brighstone  were  mainly  given 
to  his  parish  work.  Samuel  Wilberforce  always  began 
with  the  thing  nearest,  and,  when  that  was  organized 
and  well  in  hand,  looked  further  for  some  new  field  for 
his  energies.  At  tLe  beginning  of  his  incumbency  the 
questions  and  circumstances  connected  with  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  had  brought  the  Church, 
and  specially  the  Bishops,  into  great  odium  with  the 
people. 

Being  then,  as  he  himself  says,  gradually  advanced, 
in  Toryism,  he  took  a  somewhat  pessimistic  view  of  the 
outlook,  as  he  fuund  an  "  infidel  pi  ess,  an  ungodly 


14 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


people,  and  a  scorning  parliament,  which  knows  not 
nor  will  hear  the  voice  of  truth  except  as  a  matter 
of  ridicule."  His  remedy  was  found  in  using  every 
possible  means  and  effort,  in  spending  and  being  spent, 
to  make  the  Church,  and  its  services  and  means  of 
grace,  very  much  of  a  reality  to  his  Brighstone 
parishioners.  It  had  been  long  an  idea  with  many  of 
the  English  clergy  that  rubrics  were  made  to  be 
broken  and  disregarded,  and  that  it  was  not  unworthy 
and  wrong  to  consider  how  little  might  decently  be 
offered  of  spiritual  opportunity.  The  Rector  of  Brigh- 
stone plainly  left  no  stone  unturned  to  give  his 
people  every  chance.  He  added  a  second  Sunday  sermon, 
a  week-day  evening  service  and  sermon,  a  service  and 
sermon  on  all  saints'  days,  and  a  daily  service  during 
Holy  Week.  Besides  this,  frequent  catechisings,  cottage 
lectures,  and  communicants'  classes  were  all  parts  of 
his  parochial  machinery.  He  interested  himself  in 
labour  questions,  then  mi;ch  to  the  fore  among  the 
agriculturalists;  started  allotments;  wrote  a  small  tract 
to  try  and  correct  the  prejudices  of  the  lower  orders  of 
farmers  in  the  matter  of  tithes ;  and  lived  in  close 
sympathy  with  the  country  life  around  him.  He  also 
published  a  hymn-book  for  his  people,  in  order  to  give 
a  new  life  and  interest  to  the  Church  services,  and 
to  help  to  bring  home  in  a  most  eflective  way  the 
Christian's  hopes  and  trials  and  aspirations.  It  is  still 
remembered  how  his  people  sat  listening  with  delight 
to  his  evening  preaching,  though  he  would  sometimes 
go  on  till  it  grew  dark,  so  that  you  could  not  see  him. 
Being  anxious  to  vindicate  the  value  and  usefulness  to 
the  nation  of  the  jiarochial  clergy,  he  put  together  a 
little  volume,  called  The  Note-Book  of  a  Country  Clergy- 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING. 


15 


man,  which  was  meant  to  ilhistrate,  largely  out  of  his 
own  experiences,  the  sort  of  influence  a  resident  clergy- 
man has.  It  was  at  this  time  also  that  he  began  with 
his  brother  Robert  a  Life  of  his  father,  who  had  died  in 
1833,  and  prefixed  to  Henry  Martyn's  Life  and  Journals 
a  notice  of  the  life  of  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Sargent,  who 
died  in  the  same  year.  Wishing  also,  as  a  stimulus  to  his 
own  reading,  to  be  a  contributor  to  some  review,  he  fre- 
quently sent  papers  to  the  British  Magazine,  which,  edited 
by  Hugh  James  Rose,  was  the  Church  organ  of  the  period. 

These  years  were  marked  by  the  issue  of  the  Tracts 
for  the  Times,  and  Ave  can  see  the  beginning  of  the 
somewhat  "  peculiar  relation,"  as  Dean  Burgon  calls  it, 
which  Samuel  Wilberforce  held  to  the  movement 
which  led  to  their  publication.  He,  unlike  his  brothers, 
stood  outside  it,  and  though  "  a  High  Churchman  from 
the  first,"  ^  and  "  full  of  reverence  for  the  personal  holi- 
ness of  certain  of  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  had  his 
eyes  wide  open  to  their  faults,  and,  while  he  instinct- 
ively assimilated  whatever  he  recognized  in  it  as 
Catholic  and  true,  whatever  in  it  had  a  Rome-ward 
tendency  he  rejected  from  the  first  with  unqualified 
abhorrence." "  Thus  it  was  that  J.  H.  Newman  de- 
clined further  contributions  from  S,  Wilberforce  for 
the  British  Critic,  on  the  ground  that  he  is  not  "con- 
fident enough  in  his  general  approval  of  the  body  of 
opinions  which  he  and  Pusey  held."  ^  Wilberforce,  in 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Charles  Anderson,  speaks  of  this  step 
with  regret  as  a  mark  of  party  spirit,  and  laments  the 
policy  that  led  Newman  and  Pusey  to  set  themselves 
against  the  Martyrs'  Memorial  at  Oxford. 

1  Life,  i.  p.  54,  -  Burgon's  Tivelve  Good  Men,  ii.  jj.  6. 

»  Life,  i.  p.  12G. 


1(5 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


It  will  help  to  the  better  understanding  of  the 
Rector  of  Brighstone's  later  work,  to  notice  some  of 
the  ways  in  which,  at  this  time,  he  showed  himself  a 
strong  Churchman.  The  results  of  the  Reform  Bill, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  Reformed  Parliament  towards 
the  Church,  had  the  effect  of  bringing  clearly  before 
Churchmen  the  necessity  of  asserting  their  conviction 
that,  though  the  Church  of  England  was  established, 
it  was  something  more  than  a  mere  department  of  the 
Civil  Service.  It  was  clear  that  the  time  had  come 
when  a  protest  must  be  made  against  the  Erastian 
views  that  had  prevailed  during  the  Georgian  period. 
Thus  in  1834,  and  the  years  succeeding  it,  meetings 
of  friends  of  the  Church  were  being  held  all  over  the 
country,  and  Samuel  Wilberforce  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  these  movements. 

The  general  tendency  of  his  thought  and  feeling  at 
this  time  is  shown  by  the  attack  he  made  on  Lord 
Palmerston's  remarks  at  a  meeting  held  for  the  purpose 
of  setting  on  foot  a  Diocesan  Church  Building  Society. 
Lord  Palmerston  had  taken  a  line  which  Samuel 
Wilberforce  considered  to  be  inconsistent  with  true 
Churchmanship,  and  which,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Charles 
Anderson,  he  afterwards  said  was  "  really  speaking  to  his 
dissenting  constituents."  His  success  on  this  occasion 
shows  us  how  his  powers  as  an  orator  were  maturing ; 
and  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was  in  the 
chair,  was  asked  why  he  had  not  checked  the  indignant 
outburst  of  so  young  a  man,  his  reply  was  to  the  effect 
that  he  would  only  have  diverted  on  himself  the  stream 
of  eloquence;  and  "I  assure  you,"  he  added,  "that  I 
would  have  faced  a  battery  sooner."  ^  He  took  a  pro- 
1  Life,  i.  p.  108. 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING. 


17 


minent  part  in  getting  up  an  opposition  to  Dr.  Hamp- 
den's appointment  as  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  at 
Oxford  in  1836 ;  and,  on  going  up  to  Oxford  to  vote 
for  the  censure  passed  against  the  new  Professor  and 
his  views  in  Convocation,  says  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  C. 
Anderson  that  "it  was  loose  Churchmen  against  sound 
Churchmen,  whatever  were  their  politics." 

It  was  only  natural  that  the  question  of  the  import- 
ance of  the  episcopal  office  to  a  real  and  vigorous 
Church  life  should  occupy  men's  thoughts.  As  early 
as  1833  the  Rector  of  Brighstone  preached  a  sermon 
on  "  The  Apostolical  Ministry,"  at  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester's Visitation  at  Newport. ^  It  called  upon  the 
clergy  to  prize  at  a  higher  rate  that  unbroken  succes- 
sion, "  whereby  those  who  ordained  us  are  joined  as  to 
Christ's  own  Apostles,"  and  it  spoke  strongly  on  "the 
danger  of  quitting  the  high  vantage  ground  of  Apos- 
tolical authority,  to  fight  the  battle  out  upon  the 
doubtful  level  of  Erastian  principles."  The  author  did 
not  escape  criticism,  and  was  accused  of  bolstering  up 
his  Bishop  into  High  Church  notions  on  the  subject. 
He  kept,  however,  to  his  principles,  and  in  1837  was 
asserting  strongly  the  importance  of  episcopal  organ- 
ization in  missionary  work.  His  work  on  the  History 
of  the  American  Church,  published  in  1844,  illustrates 
his  views  on  this  point,  and  sets  forth  plainly  how 
deadness  and  latitudinarianism  seemed  to  him  to  arise 
in  churches  without  bishops. 

Wilberforce  was  always  a  great  supporter  of  the 
Mission  work  of  the  Church,  and  a  tour  for  the  S.  P.  G. 
in  the  West  of  England,  towards  the  close  of  his  stay 
at  Brighstone,  did  a  great  deal  to  make  him  widely 
1  Life,  i.  p.  67. 

c 


18 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


and  favourably  known.  Part  of  it  was  arranged  to 
coincide  with  Bishop  Philpott's  Visitation  tour,  and  the 
Bishop  was  disposed  to  dread  having  to  listen  so  often 
to  the  same  speaker  on  the  same  subject.  At  the  end, 
however,  he  expressed  freely  his  surprise  at  the  power 
which  always  found  some  fresh  point  of  view  from 
which  to  advocate  the  claims  of  Missions,  and  declared 
himself  to  have  been  by  no  means  bored,  but  delighted 
and  interested. 

The  Rector  of  Brighstone  soon  became  a  leader  of 
the  island  clergy.  He  started  a  society  amongst  them 
with  monthly  meetings,  and  became  a  power  in  draw- 
ing them  together  and  inducing  an  interest  amongst 
them  in  public  questions.  Hurrell  Froude  writes  to 
tell  him  how  he  had  heard  him  described  as  "the 
/ae'yas  bLakXaKTijs  of  the  island,"  and  had  heard  it  said 
that  if  it  were  not  for  him,  "  all  the  parsons  would  be 
by  the  ears."  His  appointment  presently  as  Rural 
Dean  gave  him  further  oj^portunity  for  such  influence, 
and  made  him  able  to  test  the  possibilities  of  an  office 
which  he  afterwards  made  very  important  in  his 
diocesan  oi'ganization. 

Amidst  many  occupations,  and  much  bad  health,  the 
distance  from  Briglistone  to  London  and  Oxford  was 
often  traversed ;  the  country  rector  never  failed  to  keep 
touch  ^vith.  the  great  world,  and  found  friends  among 
men  of  every  school  of  thought.  While  bringing  out 
his  father's  Life  he  left  his  living  in  charge  of  his  curate, 
and  stayed  for  long  periods  in  London  with  Bishop 
Sunmer,  and  his  relative  Lord  Calthorpe.  He  made  a 
special  point  of  listening  to  the  great  preachers  of  the 
day,  and  was  brought  by  his  inquiring  spirit  into 
intimacies  with  such  men  as  Maurice  and  Bunsen,  and 


EAKLY  YEAES  AND  TRAININa 


19 


also  began  Ins  connection  with  men  of  mark  in  all  schools 
of  thought  as  a  member  of  the  "  Sterling  Club,"  so 
called  because  its  members  were  expected  to  be  free 
from  the  unrealities  that  cling  around  those  who  are 
fettered  by  prejudice  and  conventionality. 

Several  important  offers  of  preferment  were  made  to 
him,  and  declined  largely  because  of  his  own  health 
and  that  of  his  wife.  It  illustrates  in  some  measure 
his  theological  tone  to  note  that  he  was  pressed  by  Mr. 
Simeon  to  take  the  Vicarage  of  St,  Dunstaa's.  Sir 
Robert  Inglis  also  offered  him  the  living  of  Leeds  at 
the  time  when  it  was  taken  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Hook, 
These  openings  were  however  declined,  as  well  as  an 
exchange  to  Leamington,  in  favour  of  his  work  in  the 
South,  from  which  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  was  very 
unwilling  that  he  should  separate  himself  There  his 
reputation  as  a  speaker  and  preacher  grew  rapidly,  and 
Churchmen  looked  to  him  as  a  support  and  authority, 
more  particularly  in  reaching  practical  solutions  of  the 
many  questions  then  being  agitated.  He  was  promi- 
nent in  an  attempt  to  unite  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  and  the  S.  P.  G.  ;  and  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  educational  questions  of  the  day. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AECHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 

It  has  often  been  a  ground  of  complaint  that  the 
post-Reformation  appointments  to  English  bishoprics 
have  given  to  the  Church  leaders  with  little  or  no 
practical  experience ;  they  have  had  a  tendency  to  make 
bishops  of  men  of  academical  and  literary  distinction, 
with  a  necessarily  one-sided  view  of  the  position  and 
difficulties  of  the  clergy.    Thus  the  clergy  have  not 
been  drawn  together  into  united  action,  and  have  been 
left  to  fall  into  the  fault  which  Bishop  Wilberforce 
did  much  to  remedy,  and  which  he  characterized  as 
applying,  in  their  relations  to  their  people,  "  not  the 
Church  system,  but  a  man."    It  was,  and  indeed  is,  an 
uncommon  thing  that  our  English  bishops  should  be 
those  who  have  filled  many  of  the  subordinate  offices 
in  the  Church  before  their  promotion  to  the  bench  of 
bishops.    Samuel  Wilberforce  had,  however,  within  a 
short  period  served  in  almost  every  department  of  the 
Church's  organization,  and  thus  had  a  thorough  practical 
insight  into  all  parts  of  Church  work.  He  knew  exactly 
what  was  the  nature  and  character  of  the  machinery, 
rusty  in  places  from  long  disuse,  which  he  had  to  employ, 
and  keep  in  motion,  in  an  English  diocese.  His  experience 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


21 


included  service  in  a  country  village,  and  a  town  parish  ; 
he  had  been  Curate,  Rector,  Rural  Dean,  Canon, 
Archdeacon,  Court  Chaplain,  and  Dean  of  Westminster, 
when  the  call  came  which  placed  him  over  the  diocese 
in  which  he  gave,  the  striking  illustration  of  his  idea 
of  the  episcoj)ate,  which  has  quite  revolutionized  the 
notions  that  had  previously  obtained  as  to  the  value 
and  possibilities  of  that  office.  Added  to  this  he  had, 
from  his  close  intimacy  with  Bishop  Sumner,  a  great 
opportunity  of  studying  a  good  example  of  a  vigorous 
and  vigilant  episcopal  administration,  of  a  type  that  we 
may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  describe  as  belonging  to 
the  old  school.  His  preaching  and  public  speaking  also 
made  him  much  in  demand  on  all  occasions  where 
Church  qixestions  and  interests  had  to  be  publicly  dis- 
cussed and  maintained.  Thus  he  was  au  fait  with  all 
in  the  Church  life  of  his  day  that  was  of  importance 
and  prominence.  From  his  many  friendships,  both  in 
London  and  Oxford,  and  from  his  acceptability  at  Court, 
he  knew  a  great  deal  also  of  the  mind  and  temper  of 
the  leaders  in  the  political  and  social  worlds,  and  could 
judge  well  of  the  lines  on  which  it  ■«^s  safe  and 
desirable  to  proceed.  We  shall  consider  in  this  present 
chapter  his  further  growth  in  power  and  eminence  from 
the  time  of  his  promotion  to  the  Archdeaconry  of  Surrey 
in  November,  18.39,  so  as  to  see  better  what  sort  of 
man  it  was,  that  in  184<5  was  called  upon  to  succeed  to 
the  See  of  Oxford,  just  in  the  doubtful  and  difficult 
times  of  Newman's  secession. 

At  one  time  Samuel  Wilberforce,  his  brother  Robert 
Wilberforce,  and  his  brother-in-law  H.  E.  Manning,  all 
filled  in  different  dioceses  the  office  of  Archdeacon. 
There  has  always  existed  a  certain  haziness  of  idea  as  to 


22 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


the  precise  duties  of  arclideacons  ;  Bishop  Blomfield's 
wary  definition  of  them  in  the  House  of  Lords  is  famiUar, 
when  he  defined  them  as  consisting  in  the  discharging  of 
archidiaconal  functions.  Samuel  Wilberforce,  and  his 
relations,  gave  a  large  and  wide  interpretation  of  their 
official  obligations  at  a  time  when  the  general  tendency 
was  certainly  not  to  make  too  much  of  them.  His 
great  idea  was  to  take  advantage  of  tlie  reviving  of 
ruridecanal  work  and  chapters  in  his  archdeaconry  ;  to 
gather  clergy  and  laity  together  in  the  rural  deaneries 
four  times  a  year,  at  the  Ember  seasons,  for  discussion 
and  Holy  Communion,  and  to  be  present  himself  as 
often  as  possible.  His  diaries  shoAv  how  on  these 
occasions  he  tried  to  become  acquainted  with  the  cha- 
racter and  tendencies  of  each  individual  clergyman,  and 
how  he  made  his  knowledge  and  observations  a  link 
between  them  and  the  Bishop. 

In  his  annual  charges  it  was  his  habit  to  take  a  wider 
range  of  subjects  than  had  been  usual,  and  the  six  that 
he  delivered  during  his  tenure  of  office  deal  with  all  the 
more  important  ecclesiastical  matters  of  the  da3^  They 
were  generally  read  over  first  to  his  Bishop,  and  aimed  at 
giving  the  clergy  of  the  county  of  Surrey,  which  took 
in  the  important  district  of  South  London,  a  clear  view 
of  what  seemed  to  the  writer,  in  the  many  movements  of 
the  time  and  the  many  anxieties  of  the  day,  their  right 
attitude  to  their  country,  their  Church,  and  their  chief. 
It  is  worth  observing  that  the  novelty  thus  presented 
by  his  charges  had  not  escaped  friendly  criticism,  which 
fact  perhaps,  in  some  sort,  illustrates  the  idea  then 
prevalent  that  the  Bishop  was  the  clergy,  and  that  any 
but  bishops  did  best  to  be  silent.  Canon  Ash  well  quotes 
a  letter  from  the  Archdeacon  to  Mr.  W,  E.  Gladstone, 


AROriDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


23 


written  in  184«3,  in  which  he  says — "I  am  far  from  not 
perceiving  the  danger  you  indicate  from  non-episcopal 
doctrinal  charges.  But  it  is  most  difficult  to  know 
what  at  the  present  time  to  do  in  the  sort  of  pseudo- 
episcopate  into  which  so  many  causes  have  changed  the 
archidiaconate.  For  so  much  is  some  expression  of 
opinion  looked  for  by  the  clergy,  that  its  suppression 
would  appear  like  a  shifty  evasion  of  difficulties."  Scat- 
tered over  these  charges,  besides  the  allusions  to,  and 
elucidations  of,  the  greatest  questions  of  the  hour,  there 
are  discussions  on  many  points,  some  of  which  deserve 
mentioning  as  indications  of  the  general  mind  of  tlfe 
writer. 

In  IS-i-i  he  urged  the  restoration  of  the  Diaconate, 
and  the  encouragement  of  lay  agency  in  connection 
with  the  growing  spiritual  needs  of  South  London, 
where,  he  says,  amongst  other  things,  "  Church  schools 
for  500  children  to  a  population  of  50,000  is  the  average 
provision  we  have  yet  reached."  In  his  first  charge  he 
spoke  at  length  on  the  proposals  made  by  Government 
in  reference  to  education,  and  the  terms  on  which,  as 
regards  religious  instruction,  support  was  to  be  given  to 
elementary  schools.  He  had  in  the  same  year  written 
a  letter  to  Lord  Brougham  on  the  Government  educa- 
tion scheme,  and  was  strong  in  insisting  that  the 
Church  must  neither  accept  terms  which  would  make 
it  impossible  to  give  to  children  definite  religious  in- 
struction, nor  omit  to  make  arrangements  for  giving  it 
in  the  best  way.  Two  agencies  are  mentioned  as  likely 
to  have  great  results  in  bringing  about  the  desired  end — 
training  colleges  for  teachers,  and  the  immediate  and 
general  establishment  of  diocesan  boards  of  education. 
It  was  in  the  spirit  here  indicated  that  a  little  later  the 


24 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Church  took  great  advantage  of  the  opportuuity  offered 
her  of  getting  a  strong  footing  in  the  field  of  elementary 
education.  Government  decided  to  meet  with  grants 
the  voluntary  efforts  made  by  the  various  religious 
denominations  for  the  teaching  of  the  children  in  whom 
they  were  interested.  The  principle  of  preference  for  an 
Established  Church  was  thus  abandoned,  and  all  sects 
were  placed  on  an  equality.  Dean  Burgon  has  described 
how  Mr.  R.  Greswell  started  the  movement,  which  led 
to  the  raising  by  Churchmen  of  so  large  a  sum,  through 
voluntary  contributions,  that  they  claimed  from  the  State 
far  more  than  all  other  religious  bodies  for  the  support  of 
their  schools.  The  Factory  Commission's  Report  in  1843 
drew  special  attention  to  the  state  of  education  in  the 
manufacturing  districts,  and  the  charge  of  this  year 
urges  the  necessity  of  the  Church  being  to  the  fore. 
Letters  that  passed  at  this  time  between  Archdeacon 
S,  Wilberforce  and  the  Vicar  of  Leeds,  give  us  the 
views  of  the  former  on  Dr.  Hook's  somewhat  impulsive 
suggestion,  that,  since  it  was  impossible  to  educate 
people  in  Church  principles  except  out  of  Church  funds, 
the  bishops  should  voluntarily  give  up  some  two-thirds 
of  their  incomes  for  this  purpose.  "  I  do  not,"  he  says, 
"  believe  that  the  Church  ought  to  strip  herself  bare  as 
you  propose.  I  do  not  think  that  this  would  be  the 
way  to  regain  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  our  people.  I 
do  think  that  we  want  '  spiritual  peers.'  "  He  further 
gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  rich  laity  are  the  people 
who  ought  to  provide  the  needed  funds.  From  the 
same  source  also  he  looked  for  aid  in  the  work  of 
church  restoration,  which  he  urged  as  most  necessary. 

But,  besides  his  practical  illustrations  of  what  an 
archdeacon  might  be  and  do  in  the  Church  of  England, 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


25 


in  his  incumbency  of  Alverstoke  Samuel  Wilberforce 
showed,  like  Dr.  Hook  at  Leeds,  what  might  be  done  on 
Church  Hues  in  a  large  centre  of  population.    In  his 
time  Alverstoke,  including  as  it  did  Gosport,  Forton, 
and  a  new  watering-place,  called  then  Anglesey- Ville, 
offered  a  very  varied  field  of  experience  and  labour. 
He  had  representatives  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men  in  his  flock,  and  sad  instances  of  the  social  and 
moral  evils  that  are  so  common  in  a  garrison  town. 
His  first  object  was  to  provide  fully  for  the  thorough 
application  of  the  Church's  system,  as  set  out  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  by  offering  full  opportunities 
for  worship,  instruction,  and  the  frequent  administration 
of  the  Sacraments.    Living  amongst  his  people,  and 
making  it  his  business  to  be  well  acquainted  with  their 
characters,  circumstances,  and  wants,  great  as  he  always 
was  as  a  preacher,  he  was  at  no  time  more  effective 
than  in  his  Alverstoke  days,  in  this  part  of  his  clerical 
work.    There  is  perhaps  no  relation  more  liable  to 
difficulties,  jealousies,  and  misunderstandings  than  that 
which  exists  between  curates,  and  vicars  or  rectors. 
The  Rector  of  Alverstoke  added  much  to  his  power 
and  influence  in  his  parish  by  the  men,  such  as  W. 
Burrows,  and  R.  C.  Trencli,  who  served  under  him  as 
his  curates,  and  by  the  intimate  and  happy  terms  on 
which  he  lived  with  them.    He  made  a  great  deal  of 
careful  and  systematic  preparation  for  Confirmation,  and 
drew  up  each  week  with  his  curates  full  notes  of  lectures 
for  the  candidates,  regarding  the  time  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  this  sacred  rite  as  the  great  opportunity  for 
effecting  and  establishing  a  true  conversion. 

A  plan  of  regular  district  visiting  was  begun  amongst 
the  poor,  and  a  great  point  was  made  of  the  district 


26 


BISHOP  WILBERFORGE . 


visitors'  meetings,  not  as  mere  gatherings  for  business, 
but   rather   as  means  for  uniting  the  workers,  and 
inspiring   them   with   an   intelUgent  and  devotional 
spirit.    The  thread  of  pastoral  work  was  never,  in  spite 
of  many  outside  calls  and  engagements,  broken  or  lost ; 
national  schools  were  provided  at  Gosport  and  Alver- 
stoke,  and  two  new  churches  built.  Samuel  Wilberforce, 
at  his  Bishop's  particular  request,  continued  to  hold  the 
Rectory  of  Alverstoke  during  his  short  tenure  of  the 
Deanery  of  Westminster.  This  led  to  his  being  charged 
in  the  Morning  Post  newspaper  with  avarice,  and  the 
attack  made  him  enter  in  his  diary  an  account  of  his 
real  financial  position  at  this  time.    A  short  extract 
will  fitly  conclude  this  paragraph  showing  how  the 
experience  of  vicars,  curates,  and  clerical  difficulties 
was  gained,  which  led  later  to  a  most  effective  and 
sympathetic  diocesan  administration.    The  diary  for 
Sunday,  October  12,  1845,  runs  as  follows: — "  Croker 
sent  me  Morning  Post  with  attack  on  me  for  avarice. 
God,  Thou  knowest  herein  my  innocence.  Upon  reckon- 
ing up,  I  think  I  have  hardly  drawn  above  £400  per 
annum  for  myself,  the  rest  having  gone  in  charities, 
repairs,  churches,  schools,  etc. ;  and  I  have  been  able 
to  obtain  or  contribute  to  permanent  Church  objects 
in  the  five  years  £9,980.    I  am  most  thankful  that 
God  has  suffered  me  to  see  the  labour  of  my  hands."  ^ 

The  events  of  the  years  during  which  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Surrey  was  held  by  Samuel  Wilberforce 
brought  to  a  crisis  the  history  of  the  Tractarian  Party. 
We  have  already  seen  how  he  stood  outside  it,  though 
admiring  and  adopting  in  his  ministerial  life  the  lost 
and  forgotten  traditions  of  Catholic  practice  and 
1  Life,  i.  p.  274. 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


21 


doctrine,  winch  had  ahnost  died  out  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  till  they  were  revived  and  brought  forward  by 
the  earlier  Tract  writers.    The  Archdeacon  of  Surrey 
was  one  of  those  who  had  no  sympathy  either  with 
foreign  Protestantism  or  foreign  Catholicism ;  he  desired 
that  the  Church  of  England  should  be  national,  but 
by  the  power  and  assertion  of  true  Catholic  principles ; 
he  did  not  desire  that  she  should  be  acceptable  and 
tolerated  by  a  wholesale  sacrifice  of  these  at  the  will 
and  wish  of  the  State.    Holding  such  opinions,  though 
a  High  Churchman,  and  one  who  rejoiced  exceedingly 
in  the  revival  of  Church  life  in  England,  he  was  an 
active  opponent  of  the  later  Tractarians  ^  in  their  efforts 
to  find  within  the  Anglican  Church  a  place,  not  only 
for  the  whole  body  of  Catholic  belief  and  practices 
which  was  not  exclusively  Roman,  but  also  for  some 
beliefs  and  practices  which  were.    His  votes  at  Oxford, 
during  the  various  crises  consequent  on  the  publication 
of  Tract  90,  and  Ward's  Ideal  of  a  Christian  Church, 
were  almost  uniformly  against  the  side  with  which  the 
Tractarian  party  specially  identified  themselves,  as  in 
his  voting  for  Mr.  Garbett  as  Professor  of  Poetry,  and 
for  the  condemnation  of  Mr.  Ward's  book  and  the 
degradation  of  the  writer.    He  also  expresses  plainly 
his  dissent  from  the  most  ])cculiar  features  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Tract  writers.    His  mind  was  to  secure  for 
the  Church  of  England,  by  degrees,  a  freer  hand,  as 
against  the  State,  in  matters  that  concerned  doctrine 
and  discipline.    He  was  neither  ready  nor  inclined 
himself  to  seek  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  many  of  his 
friends  did,  a  refuge  from  the  perplexities,  and  j^erhaps 
the  inconsistency,  that  attended  the  working  out  of  his 
1  Standard.    Letter,  August  18,  1890. 


28 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


ideal  of  a  Christian  and  national  Church  in  England. 
It  was  clear  to  him,  as  it  was  not  clear  to  the  morbid 
horror  of  papal  aggression  which  possesses  so  many 
religious  minds  in  our  country,  that  Rome  is  kept  afar 
off  by  the  development,  and  not  by  the  terror-stricken 
suppression,  of  the  true  Catholic  idea.  The  Jews  ouce 
destroyed  the  life  and  fire  of  inspiration  to  goodness  in 
God's  law  by  hedging  about  the  actual  commandment 
with  a  multitude  of  small  precepts  and  observances  of 
their  own  devising ;  they  hoped  thereby  never  to  come 
at  an  infringement  of  the  Divine  precepts  themselves. 
Similarly,  men  in  England  thought  that  safety  from 
Popery  could  be  found  only  by  keeping  very  far  away 
from  it  indeed ;  they  suspected  efforts  that  aimed  at 
the  reviving  of  a  more  real  Church  life,  and  a  more 
frequent  and  reverent  use  of  the  great  means  of  grace. 
Thus  it  was  that  many  men  who  had  no  sympathies  at 
all  with  the  later  Tractarians,  and  their  Rome-ward 
tendencies,  were  assailed  freely  and  fiercely  as  danger- 
ous enemies  of  the  Church  of  England.  All  through 
his  life  Wilberforce  was  often  attacked  as  a  Romanizer, 
and  he  did  not  escape  even  at  the  time  in  his  life 
which  we  are  now  discussing.  The  Record  newsjDaper 
had  a  good  deal  to  say  on  the  teaching  that  was  found 
in  his  allegory  The  Bochy  Island,  which  it  describes  as 
offering  the  "  soupe  maijo'e  of  Popery  instead  of  the 
sincere  milk  of  God's  Word."  A  short  passage  in  a  letter 
of  Samuel  Wilberforce  to  his  brother  Robert,  written  in 
1842,  marks  the  position  he  at  that  time  occupied  in 
the  eyes  of  those  inclined  on  either  side  to  an  extreme — 
"  As  to  Newman,  etc. :  day  by  day  I  am  more  con- 
firmed and  enlarged  in  my  views ;  but  I  have  no  new 
light.    Dearest  H.  says  that  for  three  years  I  have 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


29 


indulged  in  the  most  un- Christian  bitterness  against 
them.    The  Record  says  I  countenance  them," 

The  period  which  immediately  preceded  Wilberforce's 
accession  to  the  episcopate  is  marked  by  the  first 
activities  of  the  now  permanent  Ecclesiastical  Com- 
mission. At  the  outset  it  was  acceptable  neither  to  the 
enemies  nor  the  friends  of  the  Church ;  the  one  feared 
that  it  would  largely  increase  her  efficiency,  the  other 
that  it  would  fetter  her  activity  by  making  her  more  a 
mere  department  of  the  State.  It  was  felt  by  Church- 
men that  the  manner  of  appointing  the  Commissioners 
was  hardly  satisfactory,  and  that  they  did  not  sufficiently 
represent  Church  feeling  and  opinion.  This  defect 
was  however  remedied  in  1840,  when  all  the  bishops 
and  three  deans  were  made  Commissioners,  and  the 
clause  which  had  hitherto  made  the  Commissioners 
removable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Crown  was  repealed. 
As  Canon  of  Winchester  and  Dean  of  Westminster, 
Archdeacon  S.  Wilberforce  had  practical  experience  of 
the  first  working  of  the  Cathedral  Act.  It  was  his 
opinion  that  though  it  was  shown  to  be  the  result  of 
good  intentions  on  the  part  of  Sir  R.  Peel,  who  .desired 
to  increase  out  of  the  cathedral  endowments  the  funds 
available  for  parochial  purposes,  yet  that  it  had  really 
inflicted  a  blow  on  what  constituted  an  important 
element  in  the  life  of  the  Church.  Cathedrals  and 
their  chapters  have  a  real  function  in  tlie  diocesan 
system ;  they  are  needed  as  centres  of  union,  learning, 
and  devotion.  It  was  rather  assumed  in  the  new  Act, 
that  they  had  not  this  function,  and  it  was  in  conse- 
quence wholly  unsatisfactory  on  its  constructive  side. 
Since  the  Revolution,  and  more  still  since  the  Reform 
Bill,  it  has  ever  been  the  wisdom  of  the  Established 


.30 


BISHOP  WILBERFOROE. 


Church  in  England  not  to  repine  at  what  she  loses,  or 
seems  to  lose,  but  to  accept  what  she  can  get,  and  by 
making  a  good  use  of  it,  to  justify  a  claim  for  more. 
The  Archdeacon  of  Surrey  in  1840  advised  his  clergy 
not  to  talk  over  what  seemed  to  many  of  them  the 
recent  spoliation  of  the  cathedrals ;  he  reminded  them 
that,  now  the  matter  was  settled,  they  could  have  but 
one  object,  and  that  was  to  lessen  the  evils  and  secure 
the  advantages  of  the  new  system  on  which  they  were 
entering.  His  words  then  precisely  describe  the  temper 
in  which  he,  in  all  his  career,  saw  the  opportunity 
rather  than  the  drawback,  and  never  allowed  what 
might  have  been  to  deter  him  from  using  what  was. 

Other  indications  of  the  mind  that  was  forming  in  the 
future  Bishop  of  Oxford,  concerning  the  importance  and 
possibilities  of  the  episcopal  office,  deserve  and  require 
a  word  of  notice.  He  was  one  of  those  who  had  great 
hopes  that  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric  Scheme,  establishing 
a  see  there,  to  which  the  Crowns  of  England  and 
Prussia  were  to  nominate  alternately,  might  lead  to  the 
gaining  over  of  the  people  of  Prussia  to  true  episcopacy. 
He  hailed  with  delight,  as  a  mark  of  a  more  Catholic 
spirit  in  the  Church  of  England,  the  decision  that 
clergymen  of  Scottish  or  American  ordination  might 
officiate  in  English  churches;  and  took  a- prominent 
part  in  the  formation  of  the  fund  for  founding  Colonial 
bishoprics,  and  giving  to  the  Colonial  churches  the 
necessary  support,  as  he  conceived  it,  of  episcopal 
government  and  supervision.  But,  whilst  he  was  eager 
to  do  all  he  could  to  further  Bunsen's  noble  plan,  by 
which  he  trusted  that  "on  a  back  current  episcopacy 
would  flow  into  Prussia,"  and  was  one  who  made  a  point 
of  wishing  Bishop  Selwyn  "  God-speed  "  on  his  departure 


AECHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


31 


for  New  Zealand,  he  was  also  mindful  that  tlie  vox 
Ucclesicv  is  not  found  only  in  the  utterances  of  her 
bishops.  In  preaching  before  the  Convocation  of 
Canterbury  in  1841,  he  was  not,  as  a  letter  to  his 
brother  shows,  without  some  thoughts  of  its  revival 
into  something  more  than  a  mere  formal  meeting  to 
pass  an  address  to  the  Crown. 

In  1840  Samuel  Wilberforce  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Athenseum  Club ;  and  he  became,  by  degrees, 
much  sought  after  as  a  speaker  and  preacher.  The 
growth  of  his  power  in  these  last  respects  was  very 
rapid  after  his  first  great  appearance  in  London,  when 
he  took  a  resolution  at  a  public  meeting  for  the 
S.  P.  G.,  held  in  the  Egyptian  Hall,  on  April  8th,  1840. 
He  characterized  it  as  "  a  hateful  business,"  but  felt 
that  he  had  no  choice  in  the  face  of  a  request  from 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  result  completely 
established  his  reputation  as  a  public  speaker ;  and  on 
June  1  lie  again  spoke  at  Exeter  Hall,  on  the  occasion 
of  a  great  anti-slavery  meeting,  at  which  Prince  Albert 
made  his  first  public  speech  in  this  country.  This 
was  his  introduction  to  Prince  Albert,  who,  some  six 
months  later,  made  him  one  of  his  chaplains.  The 
close  intimacy  at  Court  which  followed  gave  him,  by 
bringing  him  in  contact  with  great  persons,  the  best 
education  for  being  great  and  prominent  himself.  He 
was  frequently  summoned  to  preach  before  the  Queen  ; 
and  Lady  Lyttelton,  in  a  letter  to  her  daughter,  has 
given  in  the  following  passage  a  vivid  description  of 
the  imjjression  he  made  : — "  The  real  delight  of  this 
visit  is  the  presence  of  Archdeacon  Wilberforce.  I 
never  saw  a  more  agreeable  man ;  and  if  such  a  Hindoo 
were  to  be  found,  I  think  he  would  go  far  to  convert 


32 


BISHOP  WILBERFOKCE. 


me,  and  lead  me  to  Juggernaut;  so  it  is  hard  if  all 
who  know  him  are  not  altogether  Christians  sooner  or 
later." 

There  is  a  record  of  a  discussion  with  the  Prince  on 
the  Sunday  question,  the  Prince  complaining  that  the 
English  Sunday  was  dull,  and  noticing  the  want  of 
innocent  amusements  in  England  for  the  common 
people.  Samuel  Wilberforce  also  describes  to  his 
brother  Robert  the  interest,  in  his  visits  to  Court,  of 
seeing  the  dramatis  pcrsoncc  near  at  hand,  and  of 
having  an  opportunity  of  speaking  before  such  an 
audience  on  great  subjects,  "with  the  hope  that  God 
will  bless  His  own  appointment  in  the  ministry  of  His 
Cliurch  to  His  own  good  purpose."  It  is  clear  that 
the  writer  felt  at  once  the  danger  and  responsibility  of 
his  high  favour ;  and  it  is  also  clear  that  to  his  appre- 
ciative nature  the  intercourse  thus  enjoyed  had  a  most 
important  influence  in  fitting  him  for  the  right  per- 
formance of  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

In  taking  account  of  the  forces  which  make  a  man, 
there  is  nothing  to  which  we  look  with  more  interest 
and  expectation  than  to  the  effect  on  his  character  of 
pain  and  sorrow.  We  should  not  be  doing  justice  to 
the  "  Remodeller  of  the  English  episcopate,"  if  we  did 
not  remember  that  he  was  not  a  robust  man,  and  that 
he  suffered  several  times,  specially  in  the  earlier  part 
of  his  life,  from  attacks  of  illness  that  brought  him 
near  to  death's  door.  However  incredible  it  may  seem, 
in  the  light  of  what  he  achieved,  he  confesses  himself 
that  he  really  loved  quiet  and  privacy,  and  was  naturally 
indolent,  so  that  he  had  to  flog  himself  into  activity. 
His  career,  amongst  other  things,  involved  a  triumph 
over  bodily  weaknesses  and  drawbacks,  which  have 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


33 


served  to  keep  even  greater  geniuses  and  more  shining 
talents  than  his,  in  the  dead  stagnation  of  an  unworthy 
obscurity. 

But,  beyond  this,  the  anxiety  and  sorrow  of  many 
bitter  bereavements  early  laid  their  heavy  hand 
upon  him,  and  dimmed  the  brightness  of  his  first 
remarkable  successes  as  a  public  man.  The  scourge 
of  many  English  homes,  consumption,  was  in  the 
Sargent  family,  into  which  he  married ;  the  steps  by 
which  the  Lavington  property  passed  at  last,  through 
his  wife,  to  himself  are  the  record  of  several  sad 
partings,  involving  amongst  them  the  great  grief  of 
his  life.  We  know  but  little  of  Samuel  Wilberforce's 
domestic  life  in  the  Brighstone  days,  when  the  family 
was  together,  before  his  wife's  death,  and  he  was 
himself  not  as  yet  called  in  all  directions  by  his  many 
engagements.  There  are  little  hints,  however,  of  what 
it  was  for  him,  in  the  pleasure  with  which  he  returns 
in  thought,  and  in  fact,  all  his  life  through,  to  the 
scene  of  these  his  brightest  days.  Dean  Burgon  re- 
marks on  the  happy  relations  that  existed  between 
him  and  his  wife,  that  "  we  look  in  vain  for  anything 
which  more  conciliates  our  personal  regard  for  Wilber- 
force  than  the  many  faithful  references  to  this  (evidently) 
admirable,  as  well  as  very  delightful  woman,  which 
are  scattered  up  and  down  his  letters  and  diaries." 
Her  birthday,  their  wedding-day,  the  anniversary  of 
her  death,  never  fail  to  remind  us  in  diary  and  letter- 
book,  of  the  life-long  mourning  of  the  husband,  which 
nothing  wore  out.  "  Always,  on  returning  to  Lavington, 
the  first  thing  was  to  visit  the  churchyard  and  to  lay 
flowers  on  her  grave ;  and  after  his  last  visit  thitlier, 
on  May  31,  1873,  so  near  to  his  own  departure,  he 


34 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


wrote  to  his  daughter-in-law,  Mrs.  R.  G.  Wilberforce, 
describing  the  occasion  as  '  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
My  dead  seemed  so  near  to  me  in  my  sohtude,  each 
one  following  another,  and  speaking  calm  and  hope  to 
me,  and  reunion  when  He  will.'  "  ^  This  is  enousfh  to 
show  how  terrible  was  the  blow  that  on  March  10, 1841, 
called  away  from  him  the  sharer  of  "  the  sorrows  and 
the  joys  of  a  twelve  years'  changeful  life,"  That  which 
is  to  be  noticed  now  is  the  effect  that  the  events  of 
that  day,  which  his  diary  describes  as  "  one  of  unknown 
agony,"  had  on  his  character,  his  ideas,  and  his  activities. 
It  is  plain,  from  his  own  records  of  his  feelings,  that 
all  came  to  him  as  a  call  to  a  more  complete  dedication 
of  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  the  Church. 
He  had  long  had  forebodings  that,  as  he  expresses  it, 
all  that  had  "made  life  an  earthly  Paradise  to  him" 
might  thus  be  at  one  stroke  taken  away;  his  prayer 
had  been  in  the  face  of  it,  "  that  he  might  not  so  be 
scourged  into  faithfulness " ;  he  speaks  of  his  tempta- 
tions to  self-indulgence,  covetousness,  and  vanity  as  the 
possible  causes  of  his  terrible  bereavement.  As  one 
whose  affections  were  very  strong,  who  literally  craved 
for  love  in  his  relations  and  children,  and  desired,  even 
to  the  verge  of  weakness,  to  be  liked  and  esteemed  by 
his  fellows,  the  keenness  of  the  pang  might  well  have 
paralyzed  his  energies  and  laid  him  aside,  at  least 
temporarily,  from  full  and  active  work.  He  had  the 
courage  to  seek  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties 
the  true  and  right  relief,  though  he  wished  the  de- 
parted back  with  him  all  his  life  through ;  and  he  tells 
how  he  cried  out,  as  he  lay  awake  at  night,  more  than 
twenty  years  after,  that  "  she  would,  if  she  might,  show 
1  Lijc,  i.  r-  130. 


ARCHDEACON,  DEAN,  BlSHOr. 


35 


herself  but  ouce  to  gladdeu  his  weary  eyes."  It  seems 
ahuost  strange  how  any  one  could  unfold  himself  as  he 
did  in  his  diaries,  on  the  subject  of  his  great  loss ;  but 
it  was  plainly  his  habit  in  that  way  to  seek  relief,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  better  understanding  of  the  real 
meaning  and  bearing  of  the  events  of  life.  At  any  rate 
we  can  gather  from  the  records  that  he  regarded  this 
great  affliction  as  a  fire  meant  to  purify  him  from  faults 
and  weaknesses,  and  temper  him  into  a  more  efficient 
instrument  in  maintaining,  against  the  worldly  spirit 
and  temper,  the  cause  of  truth.  The  following  passage 
illustrates  this  for  us  in  a  pointed  way : — "  Oh,  may 
HE  enable  me  to  lead  a  life  more  devoted  to  His 
glory  and  my  Master's  work !  May  the  utter  darkening 
of  my  life,  which  never  can  be  dispelled,  kill  in  me  all 
my  ambitious  desires  and  earthly  jDurposes,  my  love  of 
money,  and  jDower,  and  place."  The  thoughts  that 
governed  him  in  the  hour  of  his  bereavement  remained 
with  him  through  his  life.  In  1846,  on  the  anniversary 
of  his  consecration,  he  writes  thus — "  How  perpetually 
is  SHE  before  me !  In  business,  in  society,  when  I 
seem  full  of  other  things,  how  there  is  a  constant  under- 
base  ringing  secretly  in  my  ears  ! " 

With  all  this  m  view,  while  we  admire  the  faith  and 
courage  that  bravely  looked  for  good  in  an  apparently 
overwhelming  evil,  we  are  able  to  understand  some  of 
the  force  which  made  Samuel  Wilberforce  recollect  so 
well  a  sentence,  written  by  him  in  a  book  which  had 
once  belonged  to  his  wife,  to  the  effect  that  "  God 
numbers  the  Bishop's  absent  or  idle  days." 

In  his  visits  to  Court  we  find  recorded  that  the 
Archdeacon  of  Surrey  often  met  and  conversed  with  Sir 
Robert  Peel ;  he  tells  us  that  it  had  been  said  to  him 


30 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


that  he  would  certainly  be  called  upon  "  episcopari." 
On  March  14th,  1845,  there  came  the  offer  of  the 
Bishopric  of  Oxford,  and  the  letter  that  offered  it 
stated  that  the  Queen  had  most  cordially  acquiesced  in 
the  suggestion,  with  very  kind  expressions  on  her  part, 
and  that  of  the  Prince.  A  fruit  of  this  was  a  very 
cordial  letter  from  Prince  Albert  himself,  containing  his 
views  on  the  right  position  of  a  bishop  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  letter  suggests  that  a  bishop  ought  to 
abstain  completelj^  from  mixing  himself  up  with  the 
politics  of  the  day,  but  that  he  should  come  forward 
whenever  the  interests  of  humanity  are  at  stake,  and 
give  boldly  and  manfully  his  advice  to  the  House  and 
country.  In  religious  matters,  it  advises  also  that  the 
necessarily  active  part  taken  in  them  be  that  of  a 
Christian,  not  of  a  mere  Churchman,  remembering  that 
the  Church  does  not  exist  for  itself,  and  ought  to  have 
no  higher  aim  than  to  be  the  Church  of  the  people. 
Lastly  it  explains  how,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  a 
bishop  ought  to  bo  uniformly  a  peacemaker,  and  to 
watch  jealously  over  the  morality  of  the  State  in  acts 
which  expediency,  or  hope  for  profit,  may  tempt  it  to 
commit,  as  well  in  home  and  colonial  as  in  foreign 
affairs.  This  letter  shows  us  the  interest  that  Arch- 
deacon Wilberforce  had  aroused,  and  also  gives  us  some 
of  the  lines  on  which  he  afterwards  acted.  Before  his 
consecration  he  paid  a  visit  to  Cuddesdon,  and  records 
his  delight  in  finding  himself  rector  of  the  parish,  and 
thus  being  able  to  keep  up  that  pastoral  character 
which  our  bishops  are  so  apt  to  lose.  A  letter,  in  which 
he  invites  his  brother  Robert  to  preach  his  consecration 
sermon,  indicates  also  the  bent  of  his  mind  at  this  time, 
in  its  request  that  tlie  preacher  will  remember  how 


AECHDEACON,  DEAN,  BISHOP. 


37 


great  evil  anything,  which  just  then  raised  a  suspicion 
of  a  secret  leaning  towards  Tractarianism  in  the  new 
bishop,  might  be  likely  to  do.^  The  few  days  before  his 
consecration  were  spent  in  retirement  at  Lavingtou. 
His  diary  shows  that  the  time  was  given  to  a  calm  and 
deliberate  consideration  of  the  possibilities  of  his  new 
office  in  the  matter  of  service  to  God.  His  own  account 
from  his  diary  for  the  day  of  his  consecration,  Sunday, 
November  30,  1845,  will  fitly  close  this  sketch  of  his 
preparation,  under  a  rare  combination  of  favourable 
conditions,  for  showing  during  his  long  episcopate  what 
a  bishop  might  be  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  what 
the  Church  of  England  might  become  under  leaders 
who  did  not  forget  her  spiritual  position  and  capaci- 
ties, or  her  Catholic  traditions.  The  extract  runs  as 
follows — "  Up  early  and  vmch  ioi  prayer.  At  11  to 
Laiaheth.  The  service  very  overivhelming ;  sometimes 
almost  ahove  my  enchcrance.  I  trust  that  I  did  in  very 
deed  hetrothe  myself  for  ever  unto  my  God,  and  that  He 
mercifully  deigned  to  accept  of  me,  even  of  me.  R.'s 
sermon,  in  parts  very  touching.  Came  home,  and  at  night 
much  prayer.  Many  friends  round  me,  and  fall  of 
sympathy  and  love." 

1  Life,  i.  p.  314. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 

When  the  new  Bishop  of  Oxford  went  down  to 
Osborne  on  December  10th,  1845,  to  do  homage  for  the 
temporalities  of  his  See,  it  was  just  the  time  when  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  beginning,  in  the  face  of  the  Irish  famine 
and  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League,  to  accept  free-trade 
principles,  was  compelled  to  resign  office.  The  situa- 
tion was  a  most  critical  one,  and,  to  Samuel  Wilber- 
force's  strong  Conservatism,  not  at  all  acceptable. 
Bringing  as  it  did,  however,  into  life,  and  activity,  and 
influence,  new  men,  new  classes,  and  new  thoughts,  it 
went,  with  other  events  of  the  time,  to  bring  it  about 
that  his  episcopate  should  be  specially  connected  with 
quite  a  new  era  in  our  national  history.  There  was  a 
distinct  call  for  men  of  wider  sympathies  as  leaders  both 
in  Church  and  State ;  there  was  a  great  opportunity  for 
exhibiting  the  working  capacity  of  new  ideas ;  and  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  for  all  his  Conservatism,  was  ready 
and  willing  and  able  to  respond  to  the  call,  and  listen 
to  the  voice  of  the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  following 
passage  from  a  letter  to  Miss  L.  Noel  shows  how  he  felt 
and  appreciated  the  stir  of  the  moment — "  I  was  down 
with  all  the  reigning  Cabinet  on  Wednesday.  The 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


39 


Queen  was  mucli  agitated.  When  she  held  my  hands 
in  hers,  as  I  did  homage,  her  hands  trembled  greatly. 
No  one  has  a  question  whether  Lord  John  will  be  able 
to  hold  his  ground,  or  Peel  come  in  again."  But  the 
stir  in  the  political  world  was  equalled  by  the  stir  in 
the  ecclesiastical  world ;  the  year  1845  was  the  year  of 
final  crisis  in  the  Tractarian  movement,  when  the  Rome- 
ward  tendency  in  the  extreme  section  of  it  showed  itself 
in  many  secessions,  and  above  all  in  the  secession  of 
Newman.  Oxford  was  of  course  the  diocese  in  which 
all  the  agitation  centred,  and  Dr.  Pusey,  in  congratulat- 
ing the  new  Bishop  on  his  appointment,  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  he  will  find  himself  above  all  called  to  a  task 
of  reassuring  those  who  had  been  shaken  in  faith  and 
conviction  by  recent  events.  Dr.  Pusey  meant  by  this 
that  he  would  have  to  reassure  those  who  were  fearful 
that  they,  like  their  leader,  would  find  themselves  drawn 
necessarily  into  the  Church  of  Rome.  But  there  was 
another  and  a  more  difficult  reassurance  to  be  effected 
by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  in  his  diocese,  and  indeed  in 
the  world  outside  it.  The  last  developments  of  the 
revival  of  Church  life,  and  the  spread  of  Church 
principles,  which  the  Tractarian  movement  had  so 
successfully  realized,  served  not  unnaturally  to  arouse 
the  bigoted  anti-Roman  spirit,  which  is  so  entirely 
unable  to  distinguish  between  that  which  is  Catholic, 
and  of  primitive  antiquity,  and  that  which  is  really  a 
part  of  the  later  errors  and  corruptions  of  the  Romish 
Church,  It  was  this  alarmed  and  timid  spirit  that 
had  also  to  be  reassured,  and  induced,  by  reasoning 
and  persuasion,  not  to  cast  away  and  neglect  practices 
and  principles  of  real,  permanent,  and  sterling  value  in 
the  main,tenance  and  development  of  a  spiritual  life. 


40 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Recent  political  events  bad  tended  to  aggravate  this 
feeling  in  the  country,  particularly  the  decision  under 
Peel's  Government  concerning  the  Maynooth  Grant. 
The  making  of  this  grant  certainly  very  much  aggra- 
vated the  anti-Roman  feeling  in  the  country,  and 
increased  the  distrust  of  those  who  supported  any  of 
the  practices,  or  theories,  which  the  Oxford  movement 
had  brought  into  prominence. 

It  was  long  indeed  before  the  new  Bishop,  in  the 
Oxford  diocese,  and  in  the  Church  at  large,  manacred 
to  allay  the  alarm  that  was  felt  on  this  last  point  at 
the  time  of  his  succession  to  the  See,  He  was  himself 
fully  credited  with  tendencies  highly  dangerous  to  the 
true  Protestant  character  of  the  English  Church,  and 
the  number  of  those  who  seceded  to  Rome  from  his 
own  family  added  greatly  to  the  prejudice  that  many 
felt  against  him  on  this  score.  Newman's  work  on  Tltc 
Theory  of  Development  was  published  on  his  secession, 
and  just  at  the  time  when  Samuel  Wilberforce  began 
his  episcopal  labours.  The  part  that  this  book  played 
in  the  movements  and  controversies  of  the  time  is  fully 
discussed  in  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton's  Cardinal  Newman  in 
this  scries ;  but  there  is  an  expression  of  opinion  upon 
it  in  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  Gladstone,  which  helps 
to  show  the  attitude  to  Newman's  latest  utterances 
which  Bishop  Wilberforce  had  then  taken  up.  The 
letter  in  question  is  dated  from  the  Deanery,  West- 
minster, December  6th,  1845,  and  runs  as  follows  : — 

"  My  dear  Gladstone, 

"  Have  you  seen  Newman's  book  ?  Acute  as 
it  is,  porhajDS  beyond  anything  even  he  has  written,  I  do 
not  think,  from  what  I  have  seen  of  it,  it  is  calculated 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


41 


to  overthrow  the  faith  of  many.  For  those  who  believe 
that  the  first  divine  afflatus  conveyed  to  the  Church,  in 
the  persons  of  the  Apostles,  all  truth  concerning  God 
which  man  could  know,  and  that  the  inspired  Word  of 
God  is  the  written  transcript  of  that  entire  knowledge, 
which  it  was  but  given  to  the  Church  afterwards  to 
draw  out  and  define  with  logical  accuracy,  as  heresy 
created  the  necessity — for  all  such  the  book  has  no 
force  whatever." 

The  difficulties  of  the  position  of  the  new  Bishop  of 
Oxford  were  not  lessened  by  the  Icdssez  faire  policy 
which  his  predecessor,  Bishop  Bagot,  had  pursued.  It 
had  been  his  desire  to  have  as  little  as  possible  to  do 
officially  with  the  Oxford  revival,  and  when  at  last  it 
was  reaching  an  acute  stage,  he  was  glad  to  accept  a 
translation  to  the  more  peaceful  field  of  Bath  and  Wells. 
In  his  time  the  See  had  consisted  only  of  the  counties 
of  Berks  and  Oxfordshire.  By  the  Act  for  the  reorgan- 
ization of  some  of  the  dioceses,  passed  in  1836,  the 
county  of  Buckinghamshire  might  have  been  added ; 
but  the  story  is  that  it  was  declined  on  an  inquiry 
as  to  the  general  character  of  its  clergy,  receiving  from 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  the  laconic  reply,  "  Oh  !  topboots 
or  Exeter  Hall."  It  was  only,  then,  under  Bishop 
Wilberforce  that  the  three  counties  were  at  last  united, 
and  thus  he  had  an  opening  for  a  complete  recasting 
and  reorganization  of  the  whole  diocese.  His  work  in 
this  way  had  really  to  begin  from  the  very  bottom  ;  and 
the  arranging  of  the  Palace  at  Cuddesdon,  so  as  to 
make  it  a  real  centre  of  diocesan  life  and  work,  was  his 
first  care.  The  night  that  the  future  Bishop  spent  at 
Cuddesdon,  when  he  was  first  nominated  to  the  See, 


42 


BISHOP  WILBErvFOKOE. 


was  disturbed  by  discordant  noises.  He  was  told  by 
his  host  next  morning  that  it  was  only  the  Garsington 
men  going  home  from  an  alehouse,  which  actually  stood 
in  the  grounds  of  the  palace.  This  was  speedily  taken 
away,  and  a  chapel  built,  and  more  bedrooms  added  to 
the  house,  so  that  it  might  be  possible  to  take  in,  on 
occasion,  a  large  number  of  guests.  There  is  a  passage 
in  a  sermon  preached  by  the  Bishop  at  the  consecration 
of  Cuddesdon  Chapel,  in  1846,  which  gives  us  his  ideas 
of  what  his  house  ought  to  be  to  the  diocese  and  the 
Church.  "  For  as,"  he  says  in  it,  "  the  Bishop's 
dwelling-place  is  not  his  private  house,  but  the  common 
property  of  all  his  diocese,  held  only  in  trust  by  him 
for  them,  to  be  the  common  centre,  at  which  from 
every  part  the  scattered  pastors  may  meet  together 
with  himself,  for  counsel,  thought,  deliberation,  and 
united  action ;  so  is  the  Chapel  at  this  place  theirs  as 
well  as  his."  His  occupation  of  Cuddesdon  illustrates 
the  Avorking  out  of  the  ideas  here  expressed  on  the 
three  lines  of  devotional  intercourse,  business  inter- 
course, and  social  intercourse ;  in  each  and  all  of  which 
he  was  well  able  to  take  the  lead  with  unrivalled  and 
conspicuous  success. 

A  passage  in  the  sermon  just  quoted  gives  also  a 
suggestive  summary  of  the  preacher's  ideas  of  his 
responsibilities  as  a  bishop.  He  is  unfolding  the 
reasons  why  he  has  such  great  and  deep  need  of  his 
brethren's  prayers,  and  expresses  himself  thus — "  How 
great  a  burden  to  bear  lawfully,  honestly,  is  that  care 
of  all  the  churches  !  how  fearful  the  condemnation  if 
it  be  not  borne !  If  indolence,  or  self-pleasing,  or 
covetousness,  or  ambition,  or  worldliness,  or  sloth,  be 
found  in  the  seat  where  the  Apostles  sat,  how  great  must 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


43 


be  the  Church's  loss  !  how  horriUe  the  faithless  pastor's 
condemnation !  And  yet,  to  bear  it  all  how  much  is 
needed — what  tenderness  of  spirit;  what  unwearied 
patience ;  what  open-eyed  vigilance ;  what  resolute 
fortitude  ;  what  unflinching  courage  ;  what  unfaltering 
sympathy ;  what  an  absence  of  selfishness ;  what  a  love 
of  truth  ;  what  jealous  hatred  of  error ;  what  love  of  him 
who  errs ! "  It  is  needless  to  quote  more,  as  this 
illustrates  sufficiently  how  high  was  the  conception 
that  Bishop  Wilberforce  brought  to  Oxford,  of  all  that 
was  involved  in  his  duties,  and  their  discharge.  Wilber- 
force's  idea  was  that  you  did  not  really  have  the  Church 
without  the  bishop,  and  it  was  this  feeling  again  that 
made  him  support  the  extension  of  the  home  episcopate, 
and  enter  warmly  into  Chevalier  Bunsen's  idea  of 
making  the  Jerusalem  bishopric  a  means  of  bringing 
back  the  primitive  form  of  Church  government  to 
Prussia.  One  of  his  first  speeches  in  the  House  of 
Lords  brings  out  prominently  his  feeling  about  the 
character  and  necessity  of  the  office  he  had  just 
assumed.  He  pleaded  against  the  then  proposed 
abolition  of  one  of  the  Welsh  bishoprics,  and  advocated 
the  immediate  formation  of  the  See  of  Manchester. 

Bishop  Wilberforce  valued  highly  the  opportunities 
that  his  position  as  a  Bishop  of  the  Established 
Church  gave  him  in  the  House  of  Lords.  His  gifts 
as  an  orator  and  debater  enabled  him  to  make 
much  of  them.  In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hook  he  ex- 
presses his  plain  opinion  that  the  Church  needs  her 
spiritual  peers,  and  that  their  rank  and  worldly  posi- 
tion could  only  be  given  up,  or  taken  away,  with  real 
loss  and  damage  to  her  national  influence  and  her 
spiritual  power.    He  was  certainly  desirous  of  thinking 


44 


BISHOP  AVILBERFORCE. 


and  making  a  great  deal  of  the  "  fatherhood "  that 
belonged  to  his  office ;  but  at  the  same  time  by  no 
means  disposed  to  forget,  or  think  little  of,  the  power 
and  advantage  which  belonged,  in  the  Church  estab- 
lished in  England,  to  its  "  lordship."  In  one  of  his 
Addresses  ^  to  his  candidates  for  Ordination,  he  speaks 
strongly  of  the  relation  of  obedience  that  ought  to 
exist  between  the  ordained  and  the  person  from  whom 
they  received  their  Orders.  He  was  always  inclined 
to  make  much  of  the  bond  that  the  conferrinsj  of  Orders 
made  between  a  bishop  and  those  Avhom  he  sent  out ; 
and  when  men  had  left  the  Oxford  diocese,  he  still  con- 
sidered that  they  had  a  claim  on  him  for  advice  and 
counsel  if  they  cared  to  seek  it.  His  dealings  with 
his  clergy  make  it  plain  that  he  always  regarded 
himself  as  related  to  them  on  the  principles  and  under- 
standings that  had  governed  the  relationship  between 
bishojis  and  their  clergy  from  earliest  times ;  he  de- 
sired to  make  these  the  rule  of  his  own  episcopal 
actions,  and  the  basis  of  his  government  of  his  diocese. 
There  is  a  simple  solution  of  many  difficulties,  if  the 
theory  set  out  in  the  following  passage  might  find  a 
ready  acceptance  amongst  the  clergy  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  but,  unfortunately,  a  bishop's  acceptability 
is  much  complicated  by  the  system  which  gives  no 
real  voice  in  his  appointment  to  any  one  but  the 
Crown  and  the  Government. 

"  Primitive  Church  custom,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  pro- 
ceeded on  the  rule  that  the  priesthood  and  diacon- 
ate  derived  their  authority  from  the  apostolical 
commission  given  to  the  episcopate.  Accordingly, 
following  up  this  principle,  the  bond  of  duty  by 
'  Life,  i.  p.  22.5. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


4-5 


which  the  ordained  was  bound  to  the  ordainer  was  so 
strict  that  it  could  be  released  only  at  his  own  will 
and  by  his  own  act.  No  bishop  was  allowed  to  take 
from  the  diocese  of  another  his  priests  or  deacons 
without  his  entire  concurrence ;  whilst  within  his 
diocese  the  bishop's  rule  over  his  clergy  was  subject 
only  to  canonical  restrictions  on  its  exercise,  which 
presujjpose  its  authority,  and  by  the  appellate  juris- 
diction of  the  metropolitan  or  provincial  synod.  All 
of  these  details,  therefore,  lead  us  back  to  what  was 
then  the  universal  estimate  of  the  bishop's  office, 
namely,  that  it  was  derived  from  the  direct  appoint- 
ment and  mission  of  Christ  Himself,  and  so  was  the 
fountain  and  head  of  the  derived  authority  and  mis- 
sion of  deacons  and  priests.  Thus  in  each  Church  the 
presiding  bishop,  as  one  member  of  the  undivided 
episcopate,  was  held  to  be  the  depositary  of  ecclesi- 
astical power  and  right  for  that  diocese ;  whilst  the 
priests  and  deacons,  and  other  ministers  of  the  Church, 
were  in  their  sevei'al  grades,  offices,  and  employments, 
his  dejouties.  To  him  in  his  office,  it  was  then  believed, 
had  been  committed  by  Christ  all  the  powers  of  the 
ministry  which  He  had  founded ;  whilst  from  that 
office,  under  the  leading  of  the  Spirit,  had  been  derived 
by  the  Apostles,  first  the  diaconate,  and  then  the 
priesthood,  the  holders  of  which  orders  were  entrusted 
severally  with  certain  parts  of  the  bishop's  office,  which 
they  were  in  his  behalf,  and  in  his  stead,  to  exercise 
under  his  direction  in  the  different  districts  of  the 
diocese  in  which  they  wei-e  placed,  and  so  to  multiply  by 
their  ministrations  that  service  which  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  render  everywhere  in  his  own  person."  ^ 
1  Addresses  to  Candidates  fur  Ordination,  p.  243. 


46 


BISHOP  WILBERFOROE. 


This  loug  extract  helps  us  to  see  the  point  of  view 
from  which  Bishop  Wilberforce,  in  his  diocesan  adminis- 
trations, tried  to  break  down  the  isolation  in  which 
the  English  clergy  had  lived  and  worked.  It  was  their 
desire  each  jealously  to  guard  his  freehold  from  all 
encroachments,  and  to  do  by  himself  his  own  work,  in 
his  own  way.  The  old  idea  set  forth  above  that  they 
were  the  bishop's  representatives,  and  that  they  were 
responsible  to  him,  was  a  new  one  indeed,  Avhen  it  was 
first  revived  and  applied.  The  bishop  was  to  most 
of  the  clergy  little  more  than  a  confirming  and  ordain- 
ing ofiicial,  whose  interference  might  be  expected  in 
cases  of  grave  and  scandalous  derelictions  in  conduct 
and  duty.  That  he  should  regard  them  as  only  repre- 
senting him  in  their  cures  of  souls,  and  feel  himself 
under  an  obligation  to  interest  himself  personally  in 
their  parochial  labours,  as  Bishop  Wilberforce  did,  was 
a  novelty  tliat  some  indeed  welcomed,  but  some 
resented  as  an  unnecessary,  or  even  an  unwarrantable, 
interference. 

In  his  addresses  to  his  Ordination  candidates,  he 
dwelt  on  one  occasion  on  a  clergyman's  duties  as  a 
peace-maker.  As  w'e  all  know,  it  requires  not  only 
tact  and  resource,  but  great  courage,  to  intervene  in 
other  men's  quarrels.  Bishop  Wilberforce  always  felt 
that  quarrels,  especially  between  his  clergy  and  their 
people,  were  in  a  special  sense  his  business ;  it  was  his 
joy  to  end  them,  and  bring  the  once  divided  into  union 
and  fellowship ;  and  the  moral  courage  that  in  Alver- 
stoke  days  had  rebuked  Lord  for  profane  speak- 
ing, stood  him  in  good  stead  here.  He  dared  to  begin 
a  mediation-  he  dared  to  persevere  in  it  till  all  was 
well. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


47 


We  liave  thus  seen  something  of  the  idea  of  his 
sacred  office  that  nerved  his  arm,  and  guided  his  action. 
We  have  now  to  notice  the  means  and  methods  which 
he  specially  employed,  and  to  observe,  in  the  process, 
how  much  which  is  a  matter  of  course  now  was  used  by 
him  almost  for  the  first  time,  and  was  of  his  devising,  or 
his  reviving.  "  No  man,"  says  Dean  Burgon,  "  ever  got 
more  o'at  of  his  clergy  than  he.  They  did  whatever  he 
bade  them  do ;  and  he  bade  them  do  as  much  as  he 
thought  they  were  capable  of  doing.  If  any  disliked 
him,  it  was  the  timorous,  the  secular,  the  obstructive. 
As  for  the  men  who  neglected  their  parishes,  their 
churches,  their  work — they  hated  him  with  a  cordial 
hatred.  Few  things,  nothing  perhaps,  was  more  re- 
markable than  the  art  he  had  of  screwing  up  to  concert 
pitch  (so  to  express  oneself)  men  whose  traditions 
were  lax  and  unsatisfactory,  but  who,  in  his  society 
and  under  his  influence,  became  really  very  respectable 
Churchmen."  ^ 

Now  we  have  already  noticed  his  habit  in  any  new 
work,  of  beginning  from  within,  and  gradually,  as  it 
were,  extending  outwards.  Thus  it  was  natural  that, 
in  order  to  get  a  body  of  clergy  ready  to  his  hand,  he 
should  at  once  make  the  very  most  of  the  opportunity 
offered  in  his  Ordinations.  This  was  obviously  his 
very  first  thought.  Witness  an  account  of  his  intentions 
in  the  matter  set  forth  in  a  letter  written  to  Miss  Noel 
less  than  two  weeks  after  his  consecration — "  The 
Ordination  has  hitherto  been  conducted  thus : — The 
Archdeacon  of  Oxford  managed  all  about  it,  and 
examined  the  candidates  in  his  rooms,  as  a  student  of 
Christ  Church,  and  settled  who  was  and  who  was  not 
^  Twelve  Good  Man,  ii.  p.  47. 


48 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


to  be  ordained.  The  Bishop  came  on  the  Saturday  to 
Oxford,  gave  a  charge  to  the  candidates,  and  next  day 
proceeded  to  ordain  in  the  Cathedral.  My  wish  has 
been,  to  bring  all  the  candidates  as  much  as  possible 
under  my  own  eye,  and  to  secure  all  opportunities  of 
social,  friendly,  and  spiritual  intercourse.  Accordingly, 
I  mean  to  hold  the  examinations  here.  I  shall  lodge 
as  many  as  I  can  in  the  house,  the  others  in  the  village 
round." 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  appreciate  what  this  then 
meant,  to  remember  how  Ordinations  had  been  con- 
ducted in  many  cases  before  the  establishment  of  our 
present  ideas  in  the  matter.  No  attempt  at  all  was 
made  by  many  bishops  to  inquire  into  the  characters, 
modes  of  thought,  and  motives  in  seeking  Holy  Orders, 
of  their  candidates.  Examination  was  only  a  test  of 
the  knowledge  of  certain  books,  bearing  more  on  mere 
scholarship  qualifications  than  the  subjects  needed  to 
be  studied  and  understood  in  ministerial  work.  It  is 
wonderful  indeed  that,  considering  the  number  of  men 
who  have  at  all  times  sought  Orders  in  the  Church  of 
England  to  take  family  livings,  the  standard  of  clerical 
life  and  capacity  was  even  as  high  as  it  was;  and  that 
men  in  charge  of  parishes  were  not  more  prone  than 
they  were  to  be  carried  away  with  "  every  blast  of  vain 
doctrine."  A  large  dinner,  given  by  the  Bishop,  often 
closed  the  Ordination  Day,  and  represented  the  sole 
personal  intercourse  between  him  and  the  ordained. 
On  the  days  preceding  the  Ordination,  the  candidates, 
without  supervision,  discipline,  or  aids  to  devotion, 
were  lodged  in  the  hotels  of  the  cathedral  towns, 
meeting  each  other  in  the  evenings  for  social  enjoy- 
ment.   The  debt  of  the  Church  of  England  to  the  man 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


49 


who  finally  broke  down  all  this,  and  made  the  Ordin- 
ation hour  solemn  and  serious,  crowned  with  a  full 
realization  of  the  momentous  issues  involved  in  it,  is 
simply  incalculable.  There  can  be  no  thorough  Church 
work  without  an  earnest  clergy,  and  no  effective 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  save  from  lips  and  lives  of 
those  who  have  considered,  unto  a  true  knowledge,  how 
they  were  called,  and  why  they  were  sent. 

The  system  by  which  Bishop  Wilberforce  effected 
so  much  for  his  Church  and  diocese  by  his  Ordinations 
is  fully  set  out  in  a  letter  from  the  late  Bishop  of  Ely, 
Dr.  Woodford,  who,  as  one  of  his  able  body  of  e.Kamining 
chaplains  for  many  years,  is  well  qualified  to  speak. 
The  main  points  in  it  require  a  short  attention,  so  im- 
portant an  instrument  has  it  been  in  making  the  history 
of  the  Anglican  Church  in  the  nineteenth  century  a 
story  of  life  and  progress,  and  not  rather  one  of  death 
and  decay.  It  is  told  of  his  first  Ordination,  that  one 
of  the  candidates,  who  was  then  offering  himself, 
voluntarily  withdrew,  and  gave  up  for  ever  the  idea  of 
taking  Holy  Orders.  The  tendency  had  been,  and 
often  is  now,  to  take  a  merely  professional  view  of  the 
clerical  calling,  and  therewith  to  accept,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  that  any  one  may  be  sufficient  for  the  things 
involved  in  it.  All  Bi.'ihop  Wilberforce's  efforts  at 
Ordinations  were  directed  at  dispelling  this  false  notion 
— at  preventing  men  from  blindly  assuming  a  great 
burden  of  accountability  without  full  help  to  bear  it, 
and  himself  from  "  laying  hands  suddenly  "  on  any  one. 
But  the  voice  that  was  eager  to  tell  the  danger,  was 
eager  also  to  indicate  the  encouragements,  and  hopes, 
and  privileges  which  belong  to  the  sacred  office.  On 
the  Saturday  evening  that  closed  the  Ember  Week, 

E 


50 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


the  Bishop  was  accustomed  to  give  a  written  charge  to 
those  about  to  be  ordained.  A  volume  of  these  is 
published  on  the  questions  put  to  priests  and  deacons 
in  the  services  for  Ordination.  They  mark  the 
speaker's  anxiety  to  make  each  man  he  addresses  real 
in  the  present,  and  hopeful  and  efficient  in  the  future. 

But,  besides  these  final  charges,  each  day  of  the 
Ember  Week  the  Bishop  himself,  at  the  morning  and 
evening  services,  spoke,  generally  from  the  lessons 
for  the  day,  on  the  work  and  life  which  was  then 
beginning  with  those  who  heard  him.  It  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  under  these  influences  an  increased  devoutness 
settled  on  the  candidates  as  the  week  advanced,  and 
that  some,  in  deepening  sense  of  their  unfitness,  volun- 
tarily withdrew  for  a  further  preparation.  The  great 
principle  that  governed  the  arranging  of  these  seasons, 
was  first  the  securincr  of  a  brioht  social  intercourse 

o  o 

among  all  brought  together  by  them.  Every  meal  was 
taken  at  the  palace  with  the  Bishop  and  his  chaplains, 
and  the  Bishop  was  unwearied  in  his  efforts  to  make 
all  at  their  ease,  and  to  promote  a  pleasant,  all-includ- 
ing conversation.  Spiritual  preparation,  rather  than 
the  mere  examination,  was  made  the  dominant  idea 
outside  the  hour  of  necessary  recreation.  The  questions 
were  never  printed,  but  given  out  orally,  as  the  result 
of  a  previous  consultation  with  the  chaplains,  each  of 
whom  came  prepared  with  a  complete  set  on  all  the 
subjects  from  which  selection  was  made.  They  aimed 
at  bringing  out  not  mere  intellectual  knowledge,  but 
the  principles  on  which  the  candidates  would  be  likely 
to  administer  their  parishes,  and  to  teach  their  flocks. 
All,  and  especially  the  question  always  put  to  those 
seeking  Priests'  Orders,  and  answered  for  the  Bishop's 


OEGANIZINO  A  DIOCESE. 


51 


view  alone, — "  What  difficulties  from  within  and  with- 
out have  you  experienced  in  the  exercise  of  your 
niinistry  ?  " — led  up  to  the  private  interview  which  the 
Bishop  had  with  every  candidate.  This  was  the  time 
for  a  close  searcliing  into  character  and  motives ;  for 
words  of  rebuke  or  encouragement ;  sometimes  for 
rejection.  Tiiere  are  records  of  men  who,  vexed  at  the 
time,  have  thanked  the  Bishop  for  thus  putting  them 
back  ;  and  the  story  is  that,  on  such  occasions,  he  would 
suggest  that  the  rejected  should  leave  him  by  the 
window  opening  on  to  the  lawn,  to  spare  them  the 
mortification  of  a  return  to  the  examination  room.  All 
this  was  new  then ;  it  is  old  now,  it  has  been  improved 
upon ;  but  it  has  been  the  means  of  making  men  much 
more  informed  as  to  what  Ordination  really  involves, 
and  much  more  ready  to  act  upon  that  information. 

It  was  only  natural  that  he,  who  laid  such  stress  on 
the  right  use  of  the  time  of  Ordination,  and  its 
opportunities,  should  also  be  anxious  to  secure,  for  his 
candidates,  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  previous 
special  training  and  preparation.  Several  theological 
colleges  had  been  founded  about  the  time  when  Bishop 
Wilberforce  came  to  Oxford ;  and  the  foundation  of  the 
College  at  Cuddesdon  followed  naturally  on  his  new 
arrangements  for  Ordinations,  as  described  above.  He 
wished  by  it  to  secure,  as  it  were,  a  longer  Embertide 
for  those  wishing  to  take  Holy  Orders.  Cuddesdon  was 
intended,  as  a  rule,  for  graduates  who  desired,  and 
could  afford,  a  year's  special  preparation  for  the  ministry 
after  taking  their  degree.  The  course  there  provided 
for  a  happy  combination  of  intellectual,  practical,  and 
devotional  training,  and  has  done  much,  with  other 
similar  institutions,  to  improve  the  education  of  the 


52 


BISHOP  WILBEBFORCE. 


clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  for  their  work.  That 
work  has  suffered  not  a  little  from  the  fatal  fallacy 
that  a  man  may  be  a  good  and  efficient  clergyman 
by  the  light  of  nature.  Theological  colleges  have  done 
much  to  remove  this  wrong  impression,  and  to  help 
men  to  correspond  with  the  improved  standard  of 
ministerial  life  which  Bishop  Wilberforce  did  so  much 
to  introduce. 

There  was  another  part  of  the  work  of  his  office  also, 
which  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  felt  gave  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  establishing  a  permanent  and  wide-spread 
influence  over  many  people  in  many  places.  In  the 
past,  in  Confirmations,  as  in  Ordinations,  the  bishops 
had  too  often  preferred  to  consult  their  own  convenience 
rather  than  the  edification  of  those  placed  under  their 
charge.  They  held  but  few  Confirmations,  and  those 
only  in  central  places ;  so  that  the  mob  of  candidates, 
the  long  journey  to  the  place  appointed,  the  rite 
hastily  administered  to  whole  rows  of  candidates  at 
once,  the  short,  perfunctory,  and  ill-heard  address, 
destroyed  altogether  for  many  the  solemnity  of  the  occa- 
sion, and  scattered  to  the  winds  all  serious  thoughts. 
Thus  the  great  opportunity  of  life's  most  impression- 
able time  went  too  often  for  nothing,  and,  instead  of 
being  a  great  source  of  good,  became  a  source  rather 
of  harm.  The  prevailing  sentiment  in  the  matter  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  story  of  the  inn-keeper  who 
sought  for  compensation  from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
because  the  candidates  had  given  up'staying  at  his  house, 
as  they  had  been  used  to  do,  for  a  ball  in  the  evening 
of  the  Confirmation  day.  A  passage  from  a  letter 
written  in  1847  describes  well  the  feelings  with  which 
Bishop  Wilberforce  was  possessed  in  his  Confirmations. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


53 


"  There  is,"  he  writes,  "  so  much  of  deep  interest  iu  a 
Confirmation,  that  it  takes  a  great  deal  out  of  one. 
The  present  interest  is  intense :  the  single  opportunity 
of  making,  if  God  will,  a  dint  in  a  character ;  the 
gathering  iu,  if  the  candidates  have  been  watched  over 
and  prayed  for,  the  fruits  of  past  weeks ;  the  raising 
them  to  something  quite  new,  if  they  have  been  neglected. 
Then  all  the  old  interest  of  Brighstone  and  Alverstoke 
wakes  up.  I  remember  the  deep  anxiety  Avith  which 
I  presented  one  and  another,  the  fear,  the  doubt,  the 
trembling  hope,  the  joy  with  which  I  saw  one  and 
another  come  forward,  and  the  after  fulfilment  or 
disappointment."  ^  It  was  iu  this  spirit  that  he  set 
himself  with  untiring  energy,  and  no  disposition  to 
spare  himself,  to  hold  Confirmations  in  every  part  of 
the  diocese ;  so  that  all  might  see  and  know  the  rite, 
its  meanings  and  blessings,  and  the  young  might  not  be 
exposed  to  the  peril  of  dangerous  excitement  in  long 
journeys.  In  the  town  and  in  the  village,  in  the  school, 
the  asylum,  and  the  workhouse,  he  would  give  all 
their  chance  of  making  iu  this  way  their  open  confession 
that  for  them  Christ  and  His  ways  were  best.  There 
was  an  endless  variety  in  what  he  said  on  these 
occasions,  based  partly  on  his  own  observation  of  the 
place  and  scene,  partly  on  the  answer  to  his  request, 
that  the  clergy,  at  the  place  where  he  was  going  to 
confirm,  would  tell  him  if  there  was  anything  they 
wished  him  to  say. 

His  sympathy  with  the  young,  and  his  intense  appre- 
ciation of  the  possibilities  for  good  which  lay  before 
those  presented  to  him,  lent  a  fresh  force  and  power 
to  his  earnest  words.    "  His  addresses,"  says  Canon 
1  Life,  i.  pp.  401-2. 


54 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Asliwell,  "  at  these  times  were  the  result  of  preparation 
of  himself,  rather  than  of  that  which  he  was  about  to 
vitter."  But  it  was  not  only  what  he  said,  it  was  also 
what  he  did,  that  gave  a  deep  sense  of  the  importance 
of  the  occasion.  It  was  his  custom  to  repress  firmly  and 
steridy  any  apparent  levity  in  the  candidates,  even  to 
the  extent  of  making  one  or  other  of  them  a  public 
example  before  the  rest.  "His  way  of  doing  it,"  says 
Dean  Burgon,  "was  inimitable:  the  effect  was  astonishing. 
It  made  the  rite  a  great  success,  even  if  the  issue  of 
the  day  had  before  seemed  trembling  in  the  balance." 
The  whole  service  was  concluded  by  one  more  short 
and  stirring  address,  calculated  to  leave,  as  it  did  leave,  a 
lasting  impression  on  many  of  those  who  heard  it. 

Our  day  has  seen  a  great  deal  of  efforts  to  stir  up  a 
more  vigorous  and  thorough  spiritual  life,  by  means  of 
missions,  in  districts  and  parishes.  Bishop  Wilberforce 
made  use  of  them  in  his  episcopate,  though  hardly  in 
the  form  in  which  they  are  too  often  used  now,  with 
certain  "un-English  characteristics"  which  appeal  un- 
duly to  the  emotional  element  in  human  nature.  These 
Oxford  missions — the  first  of  which  was  held  at  Wantage, 
Farringdon  and  Banbury  in  1850 — occupied  some  nine 
or  ten  days  of  the  Lenten  season  every  year.  The 
Bishop,  with  a  chosen  band  of  preachers,  took  as  a 
centre  some  country  town  where,  by  daily  addresses, 
frequent  Communions,  and  a  stirring  evening  sermon 
by  some  conspicuous  preacher,  he  tried  to  rouse  the 
inhabitants  and  neighbourhood  from  the  dull  slumber 
of  formalism,  or  the  more  fatal  torpor  of  indifference 
and  neglect.  Meanwhile,  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
neighbouring  clergy,  services  and  sermons  were  arranged 
in  all  tlie  surroundino-  villaoies.    Each  evening,  gather- 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


55 


ings  of  workers  were  held  at  the  centre,  and,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Bishop,  the  phases  of  the  work  in  hand 
carefully  and  instructively  discussed.  With  him  all 
went  well ;  without  him  such  efforts  must  have  been 
failures,  and  therefore  better  left  alone.  It  was  his 
custom  to  hold  his  Lent  Ordination,  and  sometimes 
Confirmations  also,  at  the  place  of  the  mission.  What 
he  desired  was  to  make  it  possible  for  every  part  of  his 
once  much  neglected  diocese  to  see  the  Church  at  work 
with  all  her  appointed  methods  in  activity,  and  so  to 
bring  her  system  really  to  bear,  in  one  united  effort  of 
Bishop  and  clergy,  before  the  eyes  of  men.  As  to  the 
effect  for  good  of  all  this,  it  is  to  the  point  to  quote  from 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  charge  for  1860  his  remarks  on 
one  of  these  missions  recently  held  at  Reading : — "  The 
last  of  these  missions  was  recently  held  at  Reading,  and 
manifestly  moved,  to  its  centre,  the  population  of  that 
large  town.  I  have  yet  before  my  eyes  the  sight  of  the 
great  and  deeply  attentive  numbers  who  listened  in 
its  churches  to  the  Sermons,  which  set  forth  the  suffi- 
ciency of  Christ  for  man's  salvation,  and  for  every  want 
of  man's  heart ;  I  seem  still  to  see  the  large  bodies  of 
devout  communicants  who  every  morning  gladdened 
our  hearts ;  and  the  brotherly  assemblage  of  clergymen 
and  laymen  for  mutual  conference  and  edification  with 
which  the  meeting  closed.  Some  days  after  the  mission 
had  closed  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  receiving  a 
deputation  of  some  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  bringing 
with  them  an  address  from  a  considerable  number  of 
the  laymen  of  all  the  parishes  of  the  town,  bearing 
witness  to  the  blessing  which  had  been  given  to  the 
mission,  and  asking  for  a  future  repetition  of  what  they 
had  found  to  be  such  special  opportunities  for  growth 


56 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


in  grace.'  The  Bishop's  diary  for  1869  shows  that 
time  increased  rather  than  diminished  the  effect  of 
these  missions.  In  that  year  the  mission  was  at 
Maidenhead,  and  so  much  did  the  people  then  appre- 
ciate the  efforts  being  made  for  them,  that  all  the  shops 
in  the  town,  including  those  belonging  to  the  Dissenters, 
were  closed  at  seven  every  evening,  in  order  that  all 
might  go  to  the  evening  services. 

Closely  connected  with  this  attempt  to  make  known 
what  the  Church  was,  are  the  courses  of  Lenten 
sermons  by  the  greatest  preachers  of  the  day,  organized 
by  the  Bishop  at  St.  Mary's,  and  afterwards  at  St.  Giles', 
Oxford.  Several  courses  of  these  were  published,  and 
they  served  as  an  evidence  that  the  revival  of  a  more 
thorough  and  systematic  application  of  the  Church's 
system  neither  weakened  nor  disparaged  the  power  of 
preaching,  and  the  importance  of  the  pulpit  for  instruc- 
tion and  exhortation.  These  courses  of  sermons  the 
Bishop  always  introduced  in  person,  and  often  hurried 
from  important  and  pressing  engagements,  in  London, 
and  elsewhere,  to  do  it. 

We  have  already  observed  how  it  was  part  of  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford's  plan  to  make  his  palace  at  Cud- 
desdon  a  place  of  meeting  for  the  clergy,  for  social 
intercourse,  for  business,  and  for  devotional  purposes. 
As  regards  the  first.  Canon  Ashwell  observes  that  "  it  was 
no  small  element  in  the  hold  which  he  established  over 
his  clergy,  that  to  his  palace  at  Cuddesdon  he  would 
constantly  summon  them  to  meet  such  celebrities, 
alike  from  the  clerical  and  non-clerical  world,  as  might 
from  time  to  time  be  visiting  him — occasions  when  his 
own  wit  had  free  play,  and  drew  out  corresponding 
brightness  from  others — a  token  of  consideration  which 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


57 


all  men  feel,  but  which  to  his  younger  clergy  was 
especially  valuable."  His  social  gifts  made  Samuel 
Wilberforce  a  most  welcome  guest  in  the  greatest 
houses,  and  amongst  the  best  society  in  the  land ;  but 
as  a  host  he  was  inimitable,  unwearying  in  his  efforts  to 
bring  all  into  the  conversation,  or  making  interest  and 
entertainment  by  his  own  brilliant  talk,  his  stories, 
and  his  hon-mots.  We  can  imagine  the  dininjj-table  at 
Cuddesdon  on  such  an  occasion,  hushed  into  sudden 
silence  by  a  great  crash,  and  the  voice  of  the  host 
reassuring  his  guests  with  the  remark  that  "it  was  only 
the  coachman  going  out  with  the  hrahe!' 

Once  every  year  it  was  his  custom  to  gather  together 
at  Cuddesdon  all  his  rural  deans,  to  discuss  the  affairs 
and  arrangements  of  the  diocese  for  the  year.  His 
experience  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  had  taught  him  what 
might  be  made  out  of  the  office  of  rural  dean,  and 
its  opportunities.  The  ruri-decanal  chapters  were 
directed  to  be  held  at  least  quarterly ;  and  were  to 
include  sometimes  the  laity  as  well  as  the  clergy  of  the 
Deanery.  Bishop  Wilberforce's  letters  show  the  use  he 
made  of  his  rural  deans,  and  how  much  he  looked  to 
them  to  keep  him  informed  as  to  the  affairs  of  the  parts 
of  the  diocese  immediately  under  their  care,  whilst  he 
paid  the  greatest  attention  to  their  representations  and 
their  complaints.  There  is  a  story  told  of  a  brief  inter- 
view between  him  and  a  clergyman  who  was  taking 
charge  of  a  difficult  rural  deanery,  as  the  Bishop  was 
passing  in  the  train  through  a  station,  on  the  platform 
of  which  the  clergyman  in  question  chanced  to  be 
standing.    The  Bishop  called  to  him  in  loud  tones — 

"  Mr.  T  ,  I  am  very  glad  to  have  an  opportunity  of 

speaking  to  you.    I  hear  great  things  of  your  zeal  and 


58 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


success  as  rural  dean."  "  Well,  my  lord,"  was  the 
reply,  "  I  believe  some  people  are  under  the  impression 
that  I  am  somewhat  mad."  "  All  I  can  say  then  is," 
replied  the  Bishop,  "  I  wish  you  would  hite  all  my  rural 
deans."  If  this  may  be  taken  as  illustrating  his 
appreciation  of  a  really  zealous  man  in  this  capacity, 
the  suggestion  by  which  he  extinguished  a  clergyman, 
who  was  claiming  at  a  conference  a  distinctive  title  for 
these  officials,  must  in  no  sense  be  thought  disparaging 
to  them.  On  that  occasion  the  Bishop  reduced  the 
speaker  to  silence,  by  suggesting  "  Rather  Reverend  "  as 
a  suitable  title. 

The  charge  for  1860  records  how  there  grew  out  of 
the  deliberations  of  the  rural  deans  at  Cuddesdon  in 
that  year  two  attempts  to  quicken  the  life  of  God  in 
the  souls  of  the  clergy.  Retreats  and  Quiet  Days  have 
grown  to  be  comparatively  common  as  a  means  of 
helping  and  strengthening  that  devotional  element  in  a 
clergyman's  character,  which  must  be  developed  if  his 
ministry  is  to  be  effective,  and  is  to  enable  him  to  get 
a  real  hold  on  his  people.  These  two  meetings,  both  of 
which  Avere  presided  over  by  the  Bishop  himself, 
respectively  suggested  what  is  now  understood  by  the 
Retreat  and  the  Quiet  Day;  the  former  perhaps  may 
be  said  to  aim  at  deepening  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
individual;  the  latter  at  bringing  out  the  fraternal  bond 
of  mutual  helpfulness  which  ought  to  exist  between  the 
assembled  clergy.  The  Bishop's  comment  on  the 
experiment  is  this — "  From  these  days,  I  believe,  all 
went  back  to  their  work  quickened,  refreshed,  strength- 
ened and  united  ;  and  I  gladly  assented  to  the  expressed 
wish  that  such  opportunities  of  mutual  edification 
should  be  again  secured  amongst  us." 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


59 


As  the  rural  deaus  were  annually  gathered  together 
for  conference  at  Cuddesdon,  so  also  were  the  inspectors 
of  schools,  a  body  of  voluntary  workers  at  one  time  as 
many  as  forty  in  number.  The  Bishop's  words  about 
them  in  his  last  charge  may  be  quoted  as  showing  his 
sense  of  the  value  and  efficiency  of  their  work — "  The 
various  parish  schools  have  been  raised  to  a  new  level 
by  the  care  and  labour  of  the  diocesan  inspectors. 
Alas !  for  me,  that  I  shall  lose  the  strengthening, 
exhilarating  meetings  for  which  they  were  accustomed 
each  spring  to  gather  at  Cuddesdon  Palace."  Those 
were  stirring  days  in  the  field  of  elementary  education  ; 
the  Government  was  beginning  to  take  it  up,  and  no 
longer  to  leave  it  to  voluntary  efforts ;  as  a  consequence 
the  question  had  to  be  faced  as  to  tlie  conditions  under 
which  Government  aid  could  be  given  to,  and  accepted 
by,  schools  in  which  a  definite  religious  teaching  was 
given.  The  general  policy  of  the  Government  of  the 
day  was  to  meet  voluntary  efforts,  on  the  part  of  all 
religious  denominations  with  pecuniary  help  propor- 
tioned to  the  voluntary  contributions  given.  So 
vigorous  were  the  efforts  of  Churchmen  that  their 
schools  made  claim  to  by  far  the  largest  share  of  this 
help.  The  giving  of  it  was  of  course  saddled  with 
certain  conditions  of  inspection  and  management,  and 
the  high  "  Mountain  "  party,  as  Bishop  Wilberforce  calls 
them,  led  by  Mr.  G.  Denison,  were  for  getting  it  accepted 
that  no  plan  of  receiving  Government  grants  on 
condition  of  any  management  clauses  could  satisfy  the 
clergy.  A  motion  to  this  effect  was  brought  forward 
at  what  proved  a  very  stormy  meeting  held  at  the 
National  Society  on  June  8th,  1848.  The  Archbishop 
and  the  Committee  requested  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  to 


60 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


move  an  amendment.  "  I  never,"  he  says,  "  since  I 
addressed  the  Newport  Radicals,  spoke  to  so  hostile  an 
audience,  but  through  God's  help  and  the  truth  of  my 
cause,  I  so  won  them  over  that  the  motion  was  with- 
drawn." The  diocesan  board,  the  inspectors  of  schools, 
and  the  training  college  at  Culham  were  the  instruments 
by  which  the  diocese  of  Oxford  sought  to  do  all  it 
could,  on  Church  lines,  under  the  elementary  educational 
policy  of  the  day.  But  the  educational  work  of  the 
Oxford  diocese  did  not  begin  and  end  with  elementary 
education.  Schools  for  the  middle  class,  under  Church 
auspices,  sprang  up  as  at  Cowley  and  Littlemore ;  and 
schools  also  were  founded  at  Radley,  Bradfield,  Bloxham 
and  Stony  Stratford,  where  the  children  of  the  gentry 
and  clergy  might,  to  use  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  words, 
"  be  trained  in  that  blessed  union  of  true  religion  and 
useful  learning,  which  has  ever  flourished  and  abounded 
in  Church  of  England  schools." 

As  the  annual  conferences  at  Cuddesdon,  particularly 
that  with  the  rural  deans  and  archdeacons,  brought 
the  principal  clergy  of  the  diocese  into  contact  with 
the  Bishop,  and  with  one  another,  so  did  the  meetings  of 
the  diocesan  societies  do  the  like  for  the  leading  laity. 
Both  helped  to  draw  together  men  of  various  shades  of 
opinion,  to  which  they  were  encouraged  to  give  a  free 
expression.  Both  alike  served  to  give  them  all  a  sense 
of  a  large  field  for  common  and  united  effort,  which 
claimed  their  whole  energies,  and  really  left  no  time  or 
opportunity  for  party  strifes.  The  diocesan  societies 
were  at  first  three,  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Spiritual 
Help  Society,  and  the  Diocesan  Church  Building 
Society.  Later  on  a  Society  for  Augmenting  Poor 
Benefices  was  added. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


61 


The  Spiritual  Help  Society  was  intended  to  increase 
the  number  of  clergy,  so  as  to  meet  the  demand  for 
more  services,  and  for  a  more  thorough  visitation  of 
the  sick  and  whole.  In  his  last  charge  to  the  diocese 
of  Oxford,  the  Bishop  records  that  this  society,  with  an 
income  of  £1,200  a  year,  had  made  it  possible  to  supply  to 
some  of  the  most  needy  and  populous  parishes  forty-one 
additional  curates.  "  There  are,"  he  adds,  "  few  cases  as 
to  which  it  is  more  true  that  two  are  letter  than  one  than 
in  the  spiritual  charge  of  a  parish.  For  nothing  more 
tends  to  correct  that  great  evil  of  our  parochial  system, 
the  isolation  of  the  parish  priest,  than  the  presence  of  a 
second  clergyman." 

The  Church  Building  Society  was  organized  to  pro- 
mote the  building,  rebuilding,  and  restoration  of  churches 
and  parsonage  houses.  It  started  its  work  in  1847,  and, 
at  the  time  of  the  Bishop's  translation  to  Winchester, 
had  been  enabled  to  grant  £32,172  to  this  object.  Its 
principle  always  was  not  to  accumulate  an  invested 
capital  in  money,  but  to  invest  from  time  to  time  in 
increased  Church  accommodation  the  funds  it  had  raised.^ 

The  Society  for  Augmenting  Poor  Benefices  was 
founded  after  the  Visitation  of  1860,  with  a  view  to 
increasing  the  endowment  of  the  223  parishes  of  the 
diocese  which  fell  below  £200  a  year,  and  the  72 
which  did  not  come  up  to  £100.  The  Bishop  in  his 
charge  for  1863  mentions  that,  if  all  the  calls  on  the 
clergy  of  these  parishes  were  fully  estimated,  it  would 
be  found  that  they  received  less  than  an  ordinary  skilled 
labourer.  He  calls  attention  to  the  way  in  which  this 
extreme  poverty  of  remuneration  of  the  clergy  must 
tell  with  a  disastrous  influence  on  their  position  in 

1  Charge,  18G6,  p.  11. 


62 


BISHOP  WILBEKFORCE. 


society,  and  on  their  future  supply.  One  great  object 
in  founding  this  society  was  to  meet  grants  offered  by 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  who  were  setting 
apart  at  that  time  £100,000  a  year  to  meet  equal 
benefactions  for  poor  parishes.  In  1866  it  is  recorded 
of  it  that  it  had,  in  this  way,  added  £16,000  to  the 
endowments  of  the  diocese;  and  the  charge  of  1869 
states  that  it  had  then  raised  many  parishes,  from 
furnishing  a  merely  nominal  income,  to  one  Avhich 
secured  for  the  incumbent  just  a  bare  subsistence,  and 
so  maintained  among  scattered  poiDulations  the  separate 
ministry,  the  Church  and  altar. 

It  is  clear  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  had  it  in  his 
mind  to  secure  for  his  clergy  a  diocesan  synod.  A 
meeting  was  held  at  Oxford  on  Friday,  November  22, 
1850,  to  protest  against  the  Papal  Bull  establishing  a 
Roman  hierarchy  in  England.  It  was  a  time  of  great 
excitement,  and  the  Bishop  writes  before  it  to  his 
brother — "  I  hope  to  make  Friday's  protest  a  sort  of 
diocesan  synod.  I  have  some  apprehension  from  the 
Low  Church  party."  A  conversation  with  Mr. 
Wyndham  Portal  in  187],  given  in  the  third  volum.e 
of  the  Life,  of  Bishop  Wilherforce,  explains  the  Bishop's 
opinions  on  the  now  almost  universal  diocesan  con- 
ferences, which  were  then  beginning  to  be  held.  He 
expressed  his  strong  disinclination  to  institute  them, 
"  at  present."  "  I  know  how  it  will  be,"  he  said  ;  "  the 
Bishop  must  always  attend  every  meeting,  while  you 
laity  may  do  as  you  please.  When  all  goes  well  and 
smoothly  you  will  say,  '  See  how  well  we  have  done 
it.'  When  there  is  a  failure  from  any  cause,  it  will 
then  be  said,  '  See  what  a  muddle  the  Bishop  has  made 
of  it.' " 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


63 


The  Bishop  of  Oxford  shows  in  his  charges  how  great 
was  the  interest  that  he  himself  took,  and  that  he 
desired  to  induce  other  Churchmen  to  take,  in  the 
missionary  work  of  the  Church.  He  took  steps  to 
secure  systematic  sui^port,  in  bis  diocese,  both  for  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  and  also  for  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  In  his 
view  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel 
was  the  mark  and  indispensable  condition  of  a  real  true 
life  and  progress  in  any  individual,  and  in  any  Church ; 
it  was  the  natural  corrective  to  selfishness,  to  indolence, 
and  to  prejudice.  Thus,  in  a  speech  at  Cambridge  on 
behalf  of  the  Universities'  Mission  to  Central  Africa, 
he  pointed  out  the  danger  of  mere  religious  study  un- 
tempered  by  works  of  Christian  charity.  He  said  also 
that  for  the  Universities  to  be  called  often  from  their 
deep  studies,  and  from  their  polemical  maintainings 
of  the  truth,  to  the  practical  action  of  spreading  Christ's 
faith  in  the  world,  was  a  most  wholesome  and  blessed 
discipline. 

There  exist  certain  private  notes  made  by  the  Bishop 
of  Oxford  after  some  of  his  consultations  with  his  rural 
deans,  containing  a  list  of  things  that  in  his  opinion 
ought  to  be  done.  Amongst  these  are  two  entries  on 
the  subject  of  his  patronage — one  to  the  effect  that  the 
patronage  of  the  See  needed  to  be  amended ;  and  the 
other  to  the  effect  that  Chancellor's  livings  in  the  diocese 
and  extern  livings  ought  to  be  exchanged.  When 
Bishop  Wilberforce  succeeded  to  the  See,  as  Canon 
Ash  well  has  pointed  out,  not  only  was  the  number  and 
value  of  the  livings  in  his  gift  very  small,  but  the  local 
importance  of  the  benefices  was  even  less.  When  he 
left  the  diocese  in  1869  he  had  obtained  the  presentation 


64 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


to  most  of  the  important  town  livings,  while  the  total 
number  of  livings  in  his  gift  was  one  hundred  and  three 
as  against  seventeen  ;  and  of  these  ninety-five  were  in  his 
diocese.  Thus  he  had  secured  the  means  of  promoting 
the  more  deserving  of  his  clergy,  and  was  able  to  choose 
whom  he  would  place  in  the  most  important  parishes 
and  spheres  of  work.  At  the  same  time  he  had  provided 
opportunities  for  putting  into  livings  many  of  the 
curates  of  the  diocese,  whose  number  in  his  time  was 
largely  increased  by  the  successful  operations  of  the 
Diocesan  Spiritual  Aid  Society.  In  the  Qmrtcrly  Review 
for  1867,  there  is  an  article  by  Bishop  Wilberforce  on 
"  The  Church  and  her  Curates,"  showing  how  small  their 
prospects  were,  and  how,  in  the  many  more  opportunities 
of  other  careers,  this  would  be  likely  to  prove  a  source 
of  weakness  to  the  Church.  A  passage  in  this  article 
shows  us  clearly  what  the  Bishop  had  in  view,  amongst 
other  things,  in  so  strenuously  setting  himself  to 
increase  his  patronage.  "  Many  are  those,"  he  writes, 
"  to  whom  preferment  never  does  nor  can  come.  That 
to  which  the  poor  hard-working  curate  may  most  hope- 
fully look,  the  preferment  administered  by  his  bishop,  is 
utterly  insufficient  to  supply  such  claims.  Even  where 
the  episcopal  patronage  is  most  fairly  administered  (and 
we  know  cases  in  which  none  but  curates  of  the  diocese 
are  admitted  to  share  in  it),  a  very  small  proportion  of 
the  curates  can  ever  attain  preferment  from  its 
resources." 

Amongst  the  instruments,  methods,  and  organizations 
by  which  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  tried  to  give  his  diocese 
the  full  benefit  and  help  of  the  Church  and  her  system, 
it  remains  to  say  a  few  words  about  bis  use  of 
Sisterhoods.    They  are  now  a  most  important  part  of 


OROANIZINO  A  DIOCESE. 


the  machinery  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  the  labours 
of  Sisters  do  a  great  deal  of  her  work  among  the  fallen, 
the  sick,  and  the  poor.  The  wise  and  sympathetic 
managemeijt  of  the  Sisterhoods  at  Wantage,  Clewer, 
and  Oxford,  by  Bishop  Wilberforce,  established  them 
permanently,  as  recognized  and  allowable  institutions, 
in  the  Anglican  Church. 

In  1848  at  an  unfavourable  moment  in  some  respects, 
owing  to  the  outcry  raised  against  some  unwise  peculi- 
arities in  the  management  of  Miss  Sellon's  Devonport 
Sisterhood,  a  Sisterhood  was  founded  at  Wantage.  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford  saw  in  it  a  form  of  zeal  that  might  be 
made  of  great  and  conspicuous  use  in  the  Church  work 
of  the  diocese.  "  I  have,"  he  writes  of  this  foundation, 
"  the  deepest  interest  in  its  welfare,  and  would  do  any- 
thing in  my  power  to  help  its  progress."  But  he  was 
very  strong  that  he,  as  Bishop,  should  have  a  control  in 
the  government  of  such  establishments,  and  that  they 
should  be  managed  on  lines  thoroughly  in  accord  with 
"  the  system  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  England,  as  it 
is  to  be  found  in  Bishop  Andrewes,  Richard  Hooker, 
and  many  more  of  like  views  with  them."  "  It  is  on 
this  scheme  alone,"  he  says  in  a  letter  to  the  head  of 
the  Clewer  Sisterhood,  "  honestly,  heartily,  and  com- 
pletely adopted  and  maintained,  that  I  can  have  any 
share  in  organizing  and  promoting  Sisterhoods."  In 
accordance  witli  these  principles  he  laid  it  down  that 
"  the  sisters  could  not  be  allowed  to  practise  con- 
tinual confession  to,  or  erect  into  directors,  the  warden 
or  chaplains  of  the  house."  ^  He  also  stated  that 
they  should  not  use  Roman  Catholic  books  of  devo- 
tion, or  wear  openly,  or  exhibit  in  their  rooms,  images 

1  Life,  iii.  pp.  3-26-7. 


G6 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


or  representations  which  the  Church  of  England  dis- 
courages. On  the  question  of  the  unlawfulness  of  per- 
petual vows  he  was  always  clear.  The  attitude  that 
he  took  up  towards  Sisterhoods  is  thus  described  by 
Canon  Butler,  in  a  passage  quoted  in  the  third  volume 
of  his  life — "  Nothing  could  be  kinder,  wiser  or  more 
large-hearted,  than  the  line  which  he  adopted  ;  and  it  is 
certainly  not  too  much  to  assert,  that  to  him  our 
English  Sisterhoods  owe  their  present  position  of 
usefulness  and  acceptance.  Instead  of  standing  apart 
and  waiting  till  they  had  made  their  way,  he,  with  his 
characteristic  determination  to  be  the  real  i-Ca-Ko-os  or 
overseer  of  all  religious  movements  in  his  diocese,  took 
the  matter  into  his  own  hands,  without  in  the  least 
quenching  or  thwarting  the  zeal  and  the  ideas  of  those 
who  gave  the  first  impulse.  At  least  once  every  year 
he  visited  the  Sisters,  considered  their  rules,  sometimes 
spoke  to  each  separately,  weighed  difficult  cases,  and 
received  into  the  community  those  who  had  been 
elected."  This  policy  it  was  that  secured  for  the 
Oxford  diocese,  and  then  for  the  Church  at  large,  a 
great  power  for  good,  and  a  vast  amount  of  zealous  and 
devoted  labour. 

But  the  greatness  and  weight  of  the  Bishop  in  his 
diocese  was  much  increased,  throughout  his  career,  by 
his  position  outside  it.  He  made  many  distinguished 
appearances  in  London  during  the  first  year  of  his 
episcopacy,  and  at  once  gained  a  brilliant  reputation  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  where  the  influence  of  his  oratory 
and  his  power  as  a  debater  made  his  support  of 
consequence  to  the  Government,  or  Opposition,  as  the 
case  might  be.  This  made  him  able  to  get  a  hearing 
in  matters  that  affected  the  interests  of  the  Church  at 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


G7 


larofe  ;  and  the  estimation  in  wliich  he  was  held  abroad, 
made  it  the  easier  for  him  to  get  his  clergy  at  home  to 
accept  his  reforms,  and  give  his  methods  a  fair  trial. 
A  letter  to  Miss  Noel  gives  a  description  of  his  feelings 
when  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in 
January  1846.  "You  know,"  he  writes,  " how  all  such 
real  business  interests  me.  But  I  feel  as  if  I  should 
never  take  any  part  in  debate;  though  some  day  I 
shall.  The  impediment  of  the  lawn  sleeves  must  be 
very  great  and  entangling."  It  is  obvious  that  his 
character  as  a  bishop  did  act  as  some  check  on  him  as 
a  speaker  in  the  House.  He  was  by  nature  gifted  with 
an  unusual  power  of  repartee,  and  very  much  inclined 
to  take  advantage  of  it,  and  thus  to  put  in  those 
"  sparkles,"  as  he  calls  them,  "  on  which  the  animation  of 
a  debate  so  much  depends,  but  which  must  be  con- 
tinually regretted."  Mr.  Anson,  writing  about  his 
speech  on  tlie  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  speaks  of 
the  use  he  had  been  then  tempted  to  make  of  this 
power  as  follows — "  If  I  had  your  talent  and  your 
facility  of  sending  home  a  pco'sonal  shaft,  when  justly 
invited,  I  could  not  resist  taking  advantage  of  it,  but  I 
think  it  a  little  dangerous.  Those  men  like  the  pro- 
tectionist Duke  and  the  insane  will  never  forgive 

the  way  you  showed  them  up,  and  made  them  the 
laughing-stock  of  the  House.  The  subtle  man  on  the 
Bench,  too,  will  watch  his  opportunity  of  revenge."^ 
It  was  doubtless  the  feeling  that  this  was  "a  little 
dangerous"  that  made  him  express  his  intention  "  never 
to  debate  again,  if  he  could  help  it;"  though  at  the  same 
time  he  could  not  consent  to  be,  as  bishops  had  been 
too  much,  no  more  than  "  a  graceful  appendage  to 
>  Life,  i.  p.  3G8. 


68 


BTSIIOP  WTLBERFOROE. 


Conservatism,  a  mute  in  a  great  assembly,  while  the 
social  and  moral  evils  of  his  poor  countrymen  needed 
to  be  witnessed  of  before  princes."  ^  At  first  Bishop 
Wilberforce  simply  attended  the  debates  of  the  house, 
and  observed  its  usages ;  then  he  broke  silence,  and 
by  his  speeches  on  four  subjects  in  the  session  of  1846, 
showed  himself  conspicuously  capable  of  combining 
the  roles  of  statesman  and  ecclesiastic,  and  so  playing 
successfully  the  somewhat  difficult  part  that  falls  to  the 
lot  of  a  bishop  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

Thus  at  the  end  of  his  first  Session  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford  was  established  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  man 
to  be  listened  to ;  he  had  also  shown  that  he  was  of 
independent  opinion,  and  could  maintain  and  defend 
the  line  of  action  which  appeared  right.  He  was  always 
eager  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  securing  legislation  that 
seemed  needed  for  the  benefit  of  the  working  classes. 
Accordingly  in  1847  he  spoke  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
Ten  Hours  Factory  Act,  which  aimed  at  bringing  relief 
to  the  excessive  labour  exacted,  specially  from  women 
and  children.  He  pointed  out  the  doubtful  gain,  which 
was  probably  really  a  loss,  in  the  last  two  hours  of  a 
more  than  ten  hours'  day,  saying  that  "  when  exhausted 
nature  failed  to  give  that  quickness  of  eye  and  rapidity 
of  movement,  which  were  necessary  to  keep  pace  with 
the  machinery,  the  work  then  done  became  a  sort  of 
drawback  to  the  work  done  in  the  other  part  of  the 
day."  An  address  was  presented  to  him  by  the  workmen 
of  Bradford  in  1858,  showing  how  deep  and  abiding  was 
the  impression  made  on  them  by  the  Bishop's  successful 
effort  on  this  occasion.  A  passage  from  the  address 
in  question  runs  as  follows — "Your  Lordship,  as  a 
1  Life,  i.  p.  371. 


ORGANIZING  A  DIOCESE. 


69 


patriot  firmly  attached  to  your  country,  and  as  a  man 
possessing  keen  sensibilities  for  the  welfare  of  your 
fellows,  will  not  listen  to  these  assurances  without 
unmixed  feelings  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  You 
will  rejoice  that  you  bore  a  part  in  obtaining  that  great 
boon  to  our  manufacturing  population,  '  the  ten 
HOURS  FACTORY  ACT,'  for  which  we,  on  behalf  of 
ourselves  and  others,  beg  most  respectfully  to  tender 
to  your  Lordship  our  most  grateful  acknowledgments." 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  also 
in  other  places  outside  his  diocese,  that  the  new  Bishop 
was  making  his  mark.  In  the  meeting  of  friends  of 
the  Colonial  Church  on  the  day  after  the  consecration 
of  the  Bishops  of  Capetown,  Newcastle,  Adelaide,  and 
Melbourne,  the  Bishop  was  one  of  the  chief  speakers. 
So  again  he  preached  at  Oxford  just  at  this  time,  at 
the  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  a  sermon  which. 
Canon  Ash  well  says,  "  if  it  were  not  his  really  greatest 
sermon,  was  certainly  that  which  attracted  the  largest 
amount  of  admiration."  In  the  festivities  that  accom- 
panied the  installation  of  Prince  Albert  as  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  he  was  also  a  prominent 
figure ;  taking  his  ad  mndcm  D.D.  degree ;  preaching 
several  times  in  Cambridge,  and,  in  the  University 
Church ;  advocating  the  due  training  of  the  teachers 
of  our  National  Schools  in  the  teeth  of  the  old  ideas 
that  considered  anything,  or  nothing,  good  enough 
here.  It  was  all  a  brilliant  opening  to  a  brilliant 
career,  which,  in  spite  of  private  griefs  and  troubles,  in 
bereavements,  and  the  first  secessions  of  some  members 
of  his  family  to  Rome,  had  hitherto  been  in  public 
one  uninterrupted  success.  The  next  period  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  life  shows  us,  however,  that  the  man  who 


70 


BISHOP  WILBERFOllCE. 


remodelled  the  English  episcopate  was  not  merely  a 
fair-weather  sailor,  but  one  who  could  face  a  storm — 
and  that  too  a  storm  whose  severity  was  aggravated 
by  his  own  not  altogether  skilful  seamanship  in  the 
events  which  marked  its  bccjinning.  The  same  circum- 
stances,  as  the  next  chapter  will  show,  which  deprived 
him  of  the  support  of  many  friends,  exposed  him  to 
attack  from  those  who  disliked  his  reforms,  and  sus- 
pected him  of  favouring  principles  that  were,  in  their 
eyes,  dangerous  in  the  highest  degree. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 

In  Bishop  Wilberforce's  diaries  a  saying  of  Lord 
Aberdeen's  is  quoted,  in  whicli  he  expresses  his  opinion 
that  "  the  Church  of  England  is  two  churches,  only  held 
together  by  external  forces."  This  allusion  is  to  the 
differences  of  doctrine  and  idea  that  seemed,  in  his 
day,  to  cause  an  irreconcilable  antagonism  between  the 
members  of  what  are  most  commonly  known  as  the 
High  and  Low  Church  parties.  Now,  it  is  stated  that 
"  the  fingers  of  one  hand  would  suffice  for  numbering 
those  who  received  promotion,  from  the  Evangelical 
section  of  clergy,  in  the  Oxford  diocese  during  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  long  episcopate."  This  is  remarkable 
from  one  who  so  clearly  had,  to  use  Dean  Burgon's 
words,  "  an  inherited  claim  on  the  friendship  of  men 
of  the  Evangelical  school."  The  fact  is,  that,  though 
the  Bishop  had  no  sort  of  sympathy  with  the  Romaniz- 
ing tendencies  of  the  Tractarian  party,  he  had  a  very 
strong  sympathy  with  that  "  asking  for  old  paths,"  and 
that  claiming  of  Catholic  rights,  privileges,  and  methods, 
which  its  earliest  aims  and  utterances  had  induced  in 
so  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  in  the  Church  of 
England.    Bishop  Wilberforce  was  strong  in  his  in- 


■72 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


sisteuce  on  the  continuity  of  the  Church  established 
in  England  in  going  back,  behind  the  Reformation,  to 
the  primitive  Church  of  Christ  of  Apostolic  days.  He 
was  entirely  at  variance  with  those  whose  views  and 
inclinations  led  them  to  prefer  to  consider  that  this 
same  Churcli  of  England  was  a  new  creation  of  Reform- 
ation days,  and  a  child  of  the  State.  Thus  he  was 
active  and  eager  in  giving  life  and  expression  to  the 
ideas  that  the  Tractarian  teaching  first  brought  forward, 
after  they  had  been  long  disregarded,  as  to  the  divine 
origin  and  commission  of  the  Church.  This  was  not 
acceptable  to  the  Low  Church  party  as  a  whole,  and 
their  inclination  was  to  resist  the  new,  and  to  defend 
the  old,  without  considering  enough  the  necessities  of 
growth  and  progress  in  Church  life.  In  speaking  of  his 
Ordinations  held  in  1851,  it  is  curious  to  find  Bishop 
Wilberforce  noting,  as  a  satisfactory  point,  the  absence 
of  Low  Churchmen  amongst  his  candidates.  The  fact 
is,  that  their  apprehensions  of  a  speedy  return  to  the 
bondage  of  the  Papacy  caused  the  members  of  the 
Evangelical  party  to  look  with  distaste  and  suspicion 
on  much  that  Bishop  Wilberforce  started  in  the  diocese. 
Thus  he  did  not  seem  to  find  in  the  men  of  this  school, 
in  general  and  in  the  same  degree  as  in  men  of  the 
opposite  school,  that  zeal  in  developing  and  extending 
the  work  of  the  Church  on  which  he  set  a  very  high 
value  indeed.  A  really  conscientious  opposition  was 
apt  to  seem  obstructive ;  and  the  Bishop  often  plainly 
expresses  his  opinion  that  the  doctrines  held  by  many 
men  of  this  party  were  those  of  the  Puritans,  and 
not,  as  he  desired,  those  that  he  held  to  be  "  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  as  expounded  by 
R.  Hooker." 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


73 


Under  all  these  circumstances  the  diocese  of  Oxford 
was  for  some  twelve  years  a  divided  diocese;  and  the 
present  chapter  seeks  to  unfold  the  steps  by  which  the 
opposition  was  gradually  overcome,  and  the  Bishop  left 
in  a  position  to  exhibit,  in  harmony  and  progress,  the 
\  alue  and  efficacy  of  his  methods.  In  some  cases  the 
very  zeal,  which  he  esteemed  so  highly  in  those  whom 
he  employed  and  trusted,  was  in  itself  a  fruitful  source 
of  trouble  and  misunderstanding.  The  Bishop's  wonder- 
ful and  rapid  advancement,  his  great  personal  gifts  and 
endowments,  his  power  of  dealing  with  men,  made  him 
trust  too  much  to  his  ability  to  check  and  restrain  the 
exuberances  and  extravagances  of  some  whom  he  was 
induced  to  place  in  important  places.  His  men  would 
sometimes  altogether  exceed  their  commission,  and 
perhaps  deliberately,  as  with  his  sanction,  start  on  lines 
which  they  almost  knew  he  would  disapprove.  The 
information  would  come  to  him  after  the  event,  when 
the  mischief  was  done ;  and  Dean  Burgon  speaks  with 
some  humour  of  "  the  explosion  in  the  diocese  which 
was  sure  to  follow  the  dreary  discovery  that  some  of  his 
lieutenants  had  in  this  way  compromised  him,  been 
wanting  in  honest}^,  or  played  him  false."  Moreover,  in 
his  dealings  with  those  of  his  clergy,  whose  principles  led 
them  to  fear  all  real  or  apparent  innovations  as  coming 
from  Rome  or  leading  to  Rome,  it  had  to  be  i-emem- 
bered  how  much  the  many  secessions  to  Rome,  from  the 
Bishop's  own  family  gave  some  sort  of  a  reason  and 
excuse  for  such  alarms.  These  secessions  certainly  went 
to  hinder  his  further  promotion,  and  increased,  more 
than  lie  perhaps  was  inclined  to  admit,  his  difficulties 
with  the  Evangelicals  in  the  diocese  of  Oxford. 

In  addition  to  these  considerations,  personal  to  him- 


74 


BISHOP  WILBERFOKCE. 


self,  there  were  other  events  that  occurred  between  the 
years  1847  and  1860,  which  went  a  long  way  to  increase 
the  dislike  and  alarm  with  which  the  Low  Church  party 
in  his  diocese  regarded  his  administration  of  it.  First, 
there  was  the  Gorham  case,  which  led  Churchmen  to 
put  forward  very  distinctly  the  Church's  doctrine  of 
unconditional  regeneration  in  Baptism,  on  the  right 
liolding  of  which  Bishop  AYilberforce  was  very  strong. 
Secondly,  there  were  the  secessions  to  the  Church 
of  Rome  which  followed  Mr.  Gorham's  establishment, 
by  the  decision  of  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the 
Privy  Council,  of  his  claim  to  institution  to  his  new 
living,  in  spite  of  his  opinions  and  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter's  objections  to  them.  Again,  the  Low  Church 
party  were  also  disturbed  by  the  attempts  to  revive 
Convocation,  which  were  prompted  by  the  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  Churchmen,  after  the  Gorham  judgment,  that 
an  authoritative  voice  and  a  body  more  acceptable  to 
the  Church  than  the  Judicial  Committee,  were  needed 
to  propagate  declarations  on  faith  and  doctrine  in  the 
Church  of  England.  To  all  this  must  be  added  the 
excitement  caused  in  London  by  the  ritual  extrava- 
gances, as  they  then  seemed,  practised  b}'  Mr.  Bennett 
at  St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge,  and  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Barnabas,  which  he  had  built  for  the  poor  of  his 
parish  in  Pimlico;  and,  above  all,  the  papal  bull  of 
18.50. 

By  this  last,  Pope  Pius  IX.,  encouraged  by  the  seces- 
sions from  the  Church  of  England  to  Rome,  sought  to 
re-establish  in  Englaad  the  papal  hierarchy  with  local 
and  territorial  titles  to  the  sees.  A  letter  from  the 
Prime  Minister,  Lord  John  Russell,  to  the  Bishop  of 
Durham  on  this  subject  went  to  inflame  to  the  utmost 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


75 


the  Protestant  feeling.^  He  denounced  the  movement 
as  being  a  pretension  over  the  supremacy  of  England 
inconsistent  with  the  Queen's  supremacy,  witli  the 
rights  of  our  bisliops  and  clergy,  and  with  the  spiritual 
independence  of  our  country,  as  asserted  even  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  times.  But  this  was  not  all ;  he 
declared  that  he  did  not  fear  so  much  the  claims  of  the 
Pope  from  without,  as  the  treachery  within  the  Church 
of  England  itself.  These  remarks  were  directed  against 
the  Tractariau  body  as  a  whole,  and  not  only  against 
the  extreme  section  of  it;  and  the  same  letter  describes 
them  as  "unworthy  sons  of  the  Church  of  England," 
and  "  men  who  were  leading  their  flocks  to  the  very 
verge  of  the  precipice."  All  this  went  to  make  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford's  work,  in  a  transition  period  of  the 
Church's  history,  much  more  difficult,  and  to  excite 
against  him  much  opposition^  more  particularly  as  the 
truth  to  him  lay  with  the  then  unpopular  side,  and 
with  principles,  which  were  the  distinct  outcome  of  the 
earlier  Tractarianism. 

Before  showing  how  his  policy  was  worked  out,  and 
how,  after  passing  through  many  waves  of  opposition, 
the  Bishop  at  last  found  himself  able  to  command  in 
his  diocese  a  fairly  general  and  unanimous  support, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  say  something  of  his  conduct 
in  a  matter  which  laid  him  open  to  much  misunder- 
standing and  obloquy.  In  November  1847,  Dr.  Hamp- 
den was  recommended  by  Lord  John  Bus  sell,  then 
Prime  Minister,  to  succeed  Bishop  Musgrave  at  Here- 
ford. Lord  John  Russell  had  been  looked  on  as  a 
friend  to  the  Church,  and  Bishop  Wilberforce  had 

1  The  Church  in  Eiujland  from  William  to  Victoria,  A.  H. 
Hore,  vol.  ii,  p.  353. 


76 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


particularly  expressed  his  own  couviction  that  he  was 
houestly  determined  and  disposed,  during  his  Premier- 
ship, to  do  what  he  could  to  increase  its  liberty  and 
efficiency.  But,  as  we  have  noticed,  he  had  been 
angered  and  scared  by  some  of  the  late  applications 
and  developments  of  Tractarian  principles ;  he  thought 
that  these  "  tended  to  confine  the  intellect  and  enslave 
the  soul,"  and  was  inclined,  therefore,  to  do  what  he 
might  to  infuse  into  the  Church  a  greater  liberality  of 
thought.  He  was  moreover  strongly  disposed  to  resent 
any  expression  of  Church  feeling  on  the  subject  of  an 
appointment  to  a  vacant  see,  as  being  a  most  un- 
warrantable interference  with  the  royal  prerogative 
and  supremacy.  Dr.  Hampden,  at  the  time  he  was 
nominated  to  the  See  of  Hereford,  had  lain  for  eleven 
years  under  the  censure  of  the  University  of  Oxford, 
for  opinions  expressed  in  his  Bmnpton  Lectures  of  1832, 
and  more  particularly  in  his  Observations  on  Religious 
Dissent,  ISS-i. 

As  a  first  step,  thirteen  of  the  bishops,  amongst 
whom  was  Bishop  Wilberforce,  addressed  a  remon- 
strance to  Lord  John  Russell;  and  Dr.  Longley,  of 
Ripon,  and  Archbishop  Howley,  also  wrote  to  him  to 
the  same  effect.  As  we  have  to  consider  somewhat 
fully  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  personal  share  in  all  the 
controversy  that  arose  over  Dr.  Hampden's  appoint- 
ment, it  is  to  the  point  to  establish,  by  a  quotation 
from  the  letter  to  Lord  John  Russell,  the  ground  that 
from  the  first  was  taken  up  by  those  who  regarded  the 
Premier's  action  as  at  least  most  injudicious.  The  letter 
urges  particularly  the  point  of  view  from  which  Church- 
men must  regard  the  nomination,  and  contains  the 
following   passage — "  We   are   persuaded   that  your 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


Lordship  does  not  know  how  deep  and  general  a  feel- 
ing prevails  on  this  subject,  and  we  consider  ourselves 
to  be  acting  only  in  the  discharge  of  our  bounden  duty 
both  to  the  Crown  and  to  the  Church,  when  we  respect- 
fully but  earnestly  express  to  your  Lordship  our  con- 
viction that,  if  this  appointment  be  completed,  there 
is  the  greatest  danger  both  of  the  interruption  of  the 
peace  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  disturbance  of  the 
confidence  which  it  is  most  desirable  that  the  clergy 
and  laity  of  the  Church  should  feel  in  every  exercise 
of  the  royal  supremacy,  especially  as  regards  that  very 
delicate  and  important  particular,  the  nomination  to 
vacant  sees." 

In  seemingly  unfit  appointments,  however,  nothing- 
remains  for  the  Church  but  to  protest,  and  to  minimize, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  evil  consequences  that  are  at 
any  time  apprehended  from  them.  Now,  in  the  case 
of  Dr.  HamjDden,  this  was  the  policy  that  Bishop 
Wilberforce  tried  to  support  and  pursue.  The  letter 
from  the  thirteen  bishops  was  unsuccessful,  as  the 
following  extract  from  Lord  John  Russell's  answer  to 
it  plainly  shows.  "  I  deeply  regret,"  he  writes,  "  the 
feeling  that  is  said  to  be  common  among  the  clergy 
on  this  subject.  But  I  cannot  sacrifice  the  reputation 
of  Dr.  Hampden,  the  rights  of  the  Crown,  and  what 
I  believe  to  be  the  true  interests  of  the  Church,  to  a 
feeling  which  I  believe  to  be  founded  on  misappre- 
hension and  fermented  by  prejudice." 

As  Bishop  of  the  diocese  in  which  Dr.  Hampden's 
charge,  the  vicarage  of  Ewelme,  was  situated,  it  was 
clear  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  would  have  to  be  the 
instrument  by  which  any  process  in  the  Church  courts, 
with  a  view  of  obtaining  a  decision  as  to  Dr.  Hampden's 


78 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


opinions,  could  be  begun.  Clergy  in  the  Oxford 
diocese  bad  ah-eady  given  their  diocesan  to  understand 
that  they  meant  to  move  him  to  that  end.  Tlie  Bishop 
was  anxious  to  avoid  this  if  he  could,  though  at  the 
same  time  clear  and  determined  that  the  Church  should 
have  some  definite  assurance  as  to  Dr.  Hampden's 
orthodoxy.  An  extract  from  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Miss 
Noel,  shows  us  one  of  the  considerations  that,  reason- 
ably enough,  weighed  much  with  him  at  this  time. 
'■'  This  wliole  Hampden  business,"  he  writes,  "  is  very 
painful  to  me.  It  is  so  like  hunting  a  man  down  that 
I  am  at  times  sick  at  heart,  and  feel  I  could  do  any- 
thing to  show  I  hate  persecuting  him.  Then  it  is 
painful  to  me  to  feel  bow  probable  it  is  that  it  will 
cost  me  that  kindly  trust  of  the  Queen  which  for  no 
end,  but  for  itself,  I  do,  now  God  has  given  it  me,  value 
highly.  But  one  cannot  act  on  these  things."  Under 
these  circumstances,  relying  as  he  sometimes  did  too 
much  on  his  own  personal  influence,  not  being  suf- 
ficiently alive  to  the  Premier's  peculiar  feelings  in  the 
matter,  and  presuming  on  Dr.  Hampden's  desire  to 
clear  himself  publicly  from  the  imputations  made 
against  him,  he  himself  wrote  a  letter  to  Lord  John 
Russell  containing  these  words — Will  your  Lord- 
ship apply  to  Dr.  Hampden  the  rule  you  laid  down 
for  Dr.  Lee,  and  require  him  to  disprove,  before 
a  competent  tribunal,  the  truth  of  these  charges  ? 
This  would  satisfy  the  Church."  In  his  reply  Lord 
John  Russell  writes  thus — "  Turn  the  matter  which 
way  I  will,  I  cannot  see  that  the  course  pointed 
out  by  your  Lordship  would  act  otherwise  than  pre- 
judicially." "Thus,"  to  quote  from  Canon  Ashwell's 
very  full  account  of  the  whole  matter,    the  Bishop's 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


79 


first  effort  to  promote  the  peace  of  the  Churcli  failed 
utterly." 

As  regards  the  next  act  in  this  painful  business,  the 
Bishop's  well-meant  endeavours  to  secure  the  peace  of 
the  Church  not  only  cost  him  his  Court  favoui',  but 
caused  him  to  be  much  misunderstood  by  serious  and 
conscientious  men  of  all  parties  in  the  Church.  Worse 
still,  they  gave  his  enemies  a  real  handle  against  him, 
and  impeded  very  much  the  growth  and  extension  of 
the  new  and  wholesome  influences  which  he  was  calling 
into  activity  in  his  diocese. 

The  Bishop  hoped  that  Dr.  Hampden's  "  Letter  to 
Lord  John  Russell,"  promised  at  the  time  when  he 
received  his  own  answer,  would  prove  to  be  "  a  pre- 
scribed publication,"  in  which  he  was  to  ask  for  a  trial. 
It  proved  to  be  nothing  of  the  kind ;  it  made  no 
request  for  a  judicial  investigation,  but  complained 
bitterl}^  of  Tractarian  jJersecution,  and  asserted  strongly 
the  witer's  faith  in  all  the  fundamentals  of  Christi- 
anity. Ui)on  this  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  at  the  instance 
of  certain  clergy  in  his  diocese,  signed  the  letters  of 
request  instituting  a  suit  in  the  Court  of  Arches, 
which  would  determine  whether  Dr.  Hampden's  views 
expressed  in  his  Bampton  Lectures,  and  especially  in  his 
Observations  on  Rcligioics  Dissent,  were  in  accord  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  or  not.  But 
here,  in  his  desire  to  avoid  litigation  in  the  Arches 
Court,  whose  judge.  Sir  H.  J.  Fust,  he  pronounces  to 
be,  in  his  opinion,  "  the  most  unsatisfactory  pronouncer 
possible  of  a  judgment,"  he  made  a  very  false  step. 
In  his  final  letter  to  Dr.  Hampden,  he  explains  that  at 
this  stage  of  the  bu.siness  it  was  suggested  to  him  by 
he  promoters  that,  the  matter  now  being  in  legal 


80 


BISHOP  WILBER FORCE. 


train,  it  was  possible  that  Dr.  Hampden  might  be 
■vviUing  to  render  to  his  private  suggestion,  as  Bishop 
of  the  diocese,  the  satisfaction  which  would  otherwise 
be  sought  by  a  more  painful  process  through  the  Court 
of  Arches.  Thus  it  came  about  that,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  promoters  of  the  suit,  he  drew  up  eleven 
heads  of  enquiry,  which  he  invited  Dr.  Hampden  to 
answer,  and  so  to  give  a  formal  assurance  of  his  ortho- 
doxy. There  was  added  a  further  request,  that  Dr. 
Hampden  would  withdraw,  for  the  peace  of  the  Church, 
his  two  objectionable  books — "  not  as  admitting  their 
language  to  be  unsound,"  but  because,  in  the  judgment 
of  his  Bishop  and  that  of  others,  they  did  contain 
unsound  language.  The  result  was  that  he  got  from 
Dr.  Hampden,  with  a  protest  against  being  asked  to 
answer  these  extra-judicial  questions,  "  an  unhesitat- 
ingly affirmative  reply"  to  the  queries  on  his  belief, 
and  no  answer  at  all  to  the  request  for  the  withdrawal 
of  the  books.  At  the  same  time  Lord  John  Russell, 
to  whom  the  Bishop  also  explained  what  he  had  done, 
wrote  back  what  Dean  Burgon  calls  a  "saucy  com- 
ment" on  the  letter  to  Dr.  Hampden,  wondering  that 
a  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  "  should  be  interrogated 
upon  articles  formed,  not  by  the  Church,  but  by  one 
of  its  bishops,  as  if  he  were  himself  a  young  student 
in  divinity,"  and  refusing  to  interfere  any  further  with 
"  Dr.  Hampden's  judgment  on  his  own  position."  Thus 
Bishop  Wilberforce  had  made  the  great  mistake  of 
constituting  himself  at  once  accuser  and  judge,  and 
gained  nothing  from  the  unfortunate  position  into  which 
his  good  intentions  and  strange  want  of  judgment  had 
put  him. 

It  would  seem  that  now  at  any  rate  the  suit  must 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES.  81 

proceed  ;  but  just  at  this  time  the  Bishop  learnt,  through 
a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Hampden  to  the  Provost  of 
Oriel,  that  the  Observations  on  Bcligious  Dissent  were 
not  being  sold  or  circulated  with  his  sanction,  but 
against  his  wish,  and  that  he  had  never  reprinted  the 
pamphlet  since  the  second  edition  was  sold.^  A  note  of 
Canon  Ashwell's  explains  how  this  had  a  very  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  matter.  The  second  edition  had 
been  published  as  far  back  as  183-i,  and,  as  being  more 
than  two  years  old,  could  not  be  made  the  subject  of  a 
charge  under  the  Clergy  Discipline  Act.  This  discovery 
induced  the  Bishop  to  urge  the  promoters,  in  accordance 
also  with  advice  received  from  Archbishop  Howley,  to 
drop  the  suit.  He  had  now,  moreover,  made  a  careful 
study  of  the  Bamiiton  Lectures,  and  convinced  himself 
that,  when  read  in  conjunction  Avith  certain  explanations, 
which  their  writer  had  furnished  to  the  public  since 
their  first  publication,  they  did  not  warrant  those 
suspicions  of  unsoundness  to  which  they  had  given  rise. 
Besides  this,  further  consultation  with  lawyers  had 
made  it  clear  to  him,  that,  as  he  expresses  it,  his  action 
in  transmitting  a  suit  of  the  nature  of  that  now  before 
him  was  more  judicial,  and  less  purely  ministerial,  than 

1  In  F.  W.  Newman's  book  entitled  The  Early  History  of 
Cardinal  Newinmi,  there  appears  what  the  Bishop  of  Newcastle 
describes  "as  the  most  complete  vindication  yet  published  of 
his  father's  action  in  the  Hampden  Case."  Mr.  Newman  writes 
thus — "  In  my  belief  tliis  very  clever  Bisliop  never  did  an  honester 
and  braver  deed  tlian  his  acquittal  of  Hampden.  Any  pressure 
from  the  Court  is  quite  a  false  idea."  He  then  goes  on  to 
show  (pp.  8.5-88)  how  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  induced  by  Dr. 
Hawkins  to  read  Hampden's  lectures,  having  previously  "only 
read  Newman's  elucidation  of  them."  The  result  was  that  he 
felt  unable  to  blame  Dr.  Hampden,  and  at  once  explained  to 
Mr.  Keble  and  others  that  this  was  his  conviction,  and  that  at 
all  costs  he  should  act  up(in  it. 

G 


82 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


lie  had  thuuglit.  He  felt  that  in  transmitting  it  he  was 
supposed  to  exjjress  an  opinion  that  there  was  a  immd 
facie  case.  From  the  outset  he  had  said  that  it  would 
not  be  right  for  him  to  pomiiote  a  suit ;  and  he  had  now 
convinced  himself  that  any  charge  made  could  not  be 
sustained.  As  the  result  of  all  this,  he  wrote  to  the 
Provost  of  Oriel  saying,  "I  have  withdrawn  from  the 
promoters  of  the  intended  suit  the  Letters  of  Request." 
At  the  same  time  he  still  tried,  through  Dr.  Hawkins,  to 
get  from  Dr.  Hampden  certain  assurances  that  he 
would  alter,  or  exj^lain,  some  of  the  causes  of  misappre- 
hension in  a  future  reprint  of  the  Bumpton  Lectures. 
All  this  negotiation  failed  utterly,  as  Dr.  Hampden  by 
this  time  would  only  see  in  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  an 
antagonist,  and,  acting  now  on  legal  advice,  would  no 
longer  say  anything,  or  answer  any  questions.  To  quote 
from  Dean  Burgon,  "  the  Hampden  business  in  this 
way  certainly  reached  a  singularly  lame  and  impotent 
conclusion,"  and  ended,  as  far  as  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
was  concerned,  by  a  published  letter  to  Dr.  Hampden 
announcing  his  final  resolution  on  the  matter,  and 
the  steps  by  which  he  had  come  to  it. 

The  question,  however,  was  not  one  that  concerned 
the  Oxford  diocese  only,  but  the  whole  Church.  The 
proceedings  connected  with  it  had  been  discussed  and 
published  in  the  public  press;  and  there  was  very 
strong  indignation  felt  amongst  the  large  body  of 
earnest  and  conscientious  men  whose  feeling  Bishop 
Wilberforcc  had  appreciated,  and  tried — though  not 
successfully — to  represent,  at  his  final  withdrawal  from 
the  business.  The  assurances  that  had  been  indirectly 
won  from  Dr.  Hampden  seemed  to  them  by  no  means 
adequate,  and  did  not  indeed  amount  to  anything  very 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


83 


definite.  It  was  probably  true  that  the  opposition 
raised  did  prevent  any  further  dangerous  appointments, 
and  did  go  to  make  it  clear  that  the  mind  of  the  Church 
must  not,  in  the  appointment  of  her  bishops  by  the 
Crown,  be  left  out  of  all  account.  This,  however,  was 
hardly  felt  at  the  time,  and  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  was 
inveighed  against  by  all  parties  for  his  efforts  to  give 
due  effect  to  his  desire  to  maintain  the  divine  and 
spiritual  character  of  the  Church,  and  at  the  same  time 
not  to  endanger  in  a  critical  moment  its  connection 
with  the  State.  He  had  wanted  to  obtain  legitimate 
satisfaction  for  those  who  honestly  doubted  Dr.  Hamp- 
den's orthodoxy,  and  also  to  set  Dr.  Hampden  right 
with  the  Church  by  getting  from  him  some  public  and 
satisfactory  explanation  of  his  real  views.  Perplexed 
by  other  considerations,  such  as  the  likelihood  that  he 
would  lose  the  Court  ftivour,  which  had  been  so  con- 
spicuously his,  and  the  fear  he  had  of  bringing  vital 
Church  questions  before  tribunals  that  were  not  satis- 
factory, he  tried  too  much,  and  seems  to  have  relied 
unduly  on  his  personal  influence,  and  to  have  been 
altogether  too  fertile  in  expedients.  The  outside  world 
could  not  credit  him  with  disinterestedness;  and  while 
the  Record  referred  to  his  proceedings  as  "  courtly,"  his 
friend,  the  Bishojj  of  Exeter,  exi^resses  liis  surprise  at 
the  wonderful  want  of  "  judicial  discretion"  that  he  had 
displayed.  It  is  plain  that  he  felt  all  this  very  deeply, 
as  he  speaks  of  "  the  pelting  "  that  he  had  to  endure, 
and  ends  a  letter  to  his  brother  Robert  with  a  half- 
playful  request,  that  he  will  write  soon  and  tell  him  he 
is  not  a  rascal. 

The  whole  matter  weighted  him  very  nuich  in  his 
task  of  using  his  office  to  give  a  fresh  vitality  to  the 


84 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Church  ;  and  the  circumstances  might  well  have  influ- 
enced a  less  determined  man  to  give  up  the  effort  to 
bring  out  the  good  in  the  Tractarian  movement,  and  have 
made  him  acquiesce  in  the  old  as  inevitable,  while  he 
floated  into  favour  and  power  as  a  supporter  only  of  the 
more  Puritan  element  in  the  Church  of  Euoland.  It  is 
to  be  observed  that  his  conduct  of  the  Hampden  diffi- 
culty was  all  loss  to  Bishop  Wilberforce,  and  no  gain ; 
it  made  bis  enemies  bolder  against  him;  it  awoke  in 
liis  friends  a  certain  distrust ;  it  did  lose  him  the 
friendship  of  his  Sovereign,  and  gave  force  and  colour 
to  other  misrepresentations  made  against  him  at  court. 
It  was  only  natural  that  the  Queen  should  have  dis- 
liked his  fii'st  action  in  the  Hampden  case ;  it  came 
perilously  near  what  might  easily  be  twisted,  or  con- 
strued, into  an  interference  with  the  royal  prerogative. 
His  later  proceedings  in  the  same  matter  were,  though 
genuine  and  honest  enough,  easily  capable  of  a  sinister 
interpretation,  and  caused  an  unfavourable  construction 
to  be  put  on  other  of  his  sayings  and  doings.  The 
change  in  his  relations  to  the  Queen  closed  up  for 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  great  channels  of  possible  useful- 
ness, and  deprived  him  of  a  prestige,  which  would  have 
helped  him  certainly,  with  much  less  friction  and 
misunderstanding,  to  win  acceptance  for  the  view  of  the 
system  and  position  of  the  Church  of  England,  which, 
amidst  much  earnest  and  conscientious  opposition, 
specially  from  the  Low  Church  Party,  he  felt  bound  to 
maintain. 

After  the  Hampden  trouble,  and  the  Gorham  judg- 
ment, circumstances  brought  up  in  rapid  succession 
in  the  Oxford  diocese  many  of  the  questions  which 
involved  a  decision — how  far  there  was  a  via  media  in 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


85 


the  Church  of  England,  and  how  far  it  could  be  made 
to  hold  both  parties  (High  and  Low)  within  its  pale.  As 
regards  the  Gorham  judgment,  Bishop  Wilberforce  says 
of  it,  that  it  only  affirms  that  the  Evangelical  body  are 
not  to  be  expelled,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  W.  Butler 
thus  summarizes  his  opinion  of  it — "  This  is  to  be 
treated  as  a  mere  State  decision.  It  practically  leaves 
the  matter  where  it  found  it.  It  only  decides  that  to 
hold  infants  need  some  preparatory  grace,  analogous  to 
that  which  works  faith  and  lepentance  in  adults,  for 
them  to  be  due  recipients  of  the  grace  conferred  in 
Baptism,  is  not  so  plainly  repugnant  to  the  Church  of 
England,  as  that  the  Court  would  be  '  rigid '  in 
excluding  the  holder  of  such  a  view.  Now  I  do  not 
see  that  this  leaves  us  in  any  way  tainted  with  heresy. 
It  is  very  likely  to  mislead,  and  we  must,  of  course, 
strive  for  a  better  state  of  things." 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe  the  way  in 
which  Bishop  Wilberforce  tried  to  do  justice  to  both  of 
the  great  parties  which  exist,  and  which  are  meant  to 
exist,  in  the  Church  of  England.  In  times  of  religious 
apathy,  they  have  gone  on  quietly  enough  side  by  side ; 
but  his  lot  was  cast  in  times  when  men  were  not 
apathetic,  and  he  had  to  hold  the  balance  between 
them  when  the  adherents  of  the  two,  seemingly  antagon- 
istic, but  really  complementary,  views,  thought  honestly 
that  they  must,  for  safety,  cast  one  another  out  of  the 
established  Church  altogether.  In  the  charge  given 
to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese  in  1860,  the  Bishop  clearly 
states  his  point  of  view  in  the  matter ;  and  it  was  that 
which,  up  to  that  date,  he  strove  hard  to  establish.  He 
employs  a  luminous  phrase  to  express  his  position  in 
the  matter,  protesting  against  the  commonly  received 


m 


BISHOP  WILBEEFORCE. 


theory  that  the  state  of  things  meant  to  exist  in  our 
Reformed  Church  is  rightly  called  a  compromise ;  "  it 
is,"  he  says,  "rather  indeed  a  combination  than  a 
compi-omise."  He  then  gives  as  follows  his  account  of 
what,  on  this  jorinciple,  the  Church  of  England  is — 
"  Both  before  and  since  the  Reformation,  the  sacra- 
mental and  anti-sacramental  view  has  wrought  strongly 
on  the  religious  mind  of  England.  It  was  a  mighty  and 
anxious  problem,  whether  the  favourers  of  these  different 
views  could  be  combined  in  one  Reformed  Church,  with 
articles  and  formularies  free  from  dishonest  ambiguity  of 
diction.  This  problem  God  gave  to  our  fathers  the 
grace  to  solve.  To  a  marvellous  degree  the  Church  of 
England  did  combine  all  the  men  of  both  sections  of 
thought,  who  possessed  any  moderation  of  character. 
The  struggle  indeed  was  long  and  often  renewed ;  but, 
upon  the  whole,  the  fusion  was  most  happily  accom- 
plished, and  a  rare  inheritance  of  peace  and  purity  was 
bequeathed  to  English  Churchmen.  The  matter  had 
been  wrangled  out ;  and  we  still  enjoy  the  good  fruits 
which  have  grown  over  the  graves  of  controversies  as 
old  as  those  of  Hooper  and  Ridley,  of  Travers  and 
Hooker.  This  has  been  possible,  because  our  common 
formularies  contain  all  the  positive  truth  which  is 
needful  for  each  class  of  minds,  with  no  such  contra- 
diction of  what  either  holds  as  would  make  subscription 
to  them  dishonest." 

It  was  this  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  had  to 
maintain,  and  being,  as  he  states  in  a  letter  to  Lord 
Ashley  written  in  1850,  "  a  distinctly  High  Church- 
man," he  was  a  champion  of  the  sacramental  view, 
rather  than  the  anti-sacramental.  This  drew  down  on 
him  the  opposition  of  the  other  side  as  encouraging 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


87 


Romanizing  opinions,  more  particularly  in  a  time  when 
the  Englishman's  natural  horror  of  Roman  errors  was 
intensified  by  many  secessions  to  the  Chui-ch  of 
Rome,  and  by  an  increased  activity  in  the  pi'opagation 
of  Roman  Catholic  doctrines  in  England  owing  to 
improved  Roman  Catholic  organization. 

In  the  letter  to  Lord  Ashley,  to  which  reference  is 
made  above,  the  Bishop  makes  allusion  to  the  fact  that 
his  toleration  of  Mr.  Allies  had  been  alleged  as  a  proof 
that  he  (though  of  the  school  of  Andrewes,  Hooker  and 
Beveridge,  and  opposed  to  the  revival  of  a  system 
of  auricular  confession,  sacramental  absolution,  the 
sacrificial  character  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  denial  of  justification  by  faith,  etc.)  was  a 
Romanizer.  A  few  words  on  the  difficulties  between 
Mr.  Allies  and  his  Bishop  will  bring  out  clearly  some 
of  the  princii^les  on  which  the  Bishop  desired  to  act 
with  those  who,  though  in  the  Church  of  England,  were 
yet  not  of  it.  The  Rev.  T.  W.  Allies,  Vicar  of 
Launton,  had  from  the  first  shown  in  his  charge  more 
zeal  than  discretion  in  his  advocacy  of  advanced  High 
Church  principles.  In  1849  he  published  a  book,  about 
which  Bishop  Wilberforce  wrote  to  his  friend,  Miss 
Noel,  as  follows : — "  I  am  reading  Allies',  of  Launton, 
Journal  in  France.  Very  painful,  very  interesting.  I  am 
studying  it  to  see  if  I  must  notice  it.  It  is  the  most 
undisguised,  unblushing  preference  for  Rome  I  almost 
ever  read."  The  result  was  that  the  Bishop  wrote  to 
Mr.  Allies  that  his  language  as  to  the  Eucharist  seemed 
to  him  to  contradict  the  teaching  of  our  Church,  con- 
demning, in  the  28th  Article,  the  Roman  dogma  of 
Transubstantiation,  He  also  complained  of  his  tone  as 
to  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a  minister,  as  depre- 


88 


BISHOP  WILP.ERFORCE. 


ciating  and  even  insulting,  implying  alienation  from 
her,  and  addiction  to  tlie  Roman  Communion.  The 
Bishop's  conclusion  is  that,  unless  there  follows  ex- 
planation or  unqualified  retraction,  he  will  feel  bound 
to  call  upon  Mr.  Allies  to  discontinue,  as  an  honest 
man,  that  ministry  which  he  exercised  on  condition  of 
holding  articles  of  religion,  which  he  now  publicly  con- 
tradicted. j\Ir.  Allies  made  but  evasive  answers,  and, 
as  the  Bishop  puts  it,  wished  to  make  out  that  he 
might  hold  all  Koman  doctrine  except  the  Pope's 
supremacy,  and  remain  in  the  Church  of  England. 
The  Bishop,  on  the  advice  of  Dr.  Lushington  (who, 
though  he  felt  reluctant  to  recommend  the  prosecution 
of  a  clergyman,  thought  it  was  in  this  case  desirable 
and  likely  to  succeed),  determined,  with  the  concurrence 
of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  to  bring  Mr.  Allies  to  trial,  on 
liis  further  refusal  to  submit  himself.  This  intention 
was  abandoned,  at  the  intercession  of  Baron  Alderson, 
who  also  obtained  from  Mr.  Allies  a  pledge  that  he 
would  withdraw  his  book  from  future  circulation,  and 
would  teach  and  preach  in  future  in  the  plain  literal 
and  grammatical  sense  of  the  Articles.  The  Bishop 
then  took  steps  to  circulate  this  submission  among  the 
clergy,  through  the  Archdeacon  of  Oxford.  Thus  the 
matter  dropped,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Evangelical  party,  jjarticularly  as  Mr.  Allies  the  same 
year  joined  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Bishop  Wilberforce's  views  on  the  observance  of 
Sunday  ought  to  be  mentioned  amongst  things  that 
made  him  distrusted  by  the  more  puritanical  members 
of  the  Low  Church  party.  The  matter  had  come  into 
prominence  because  of  the  Post  Office  Arrangements 
(Sunday)  Bill.    As  early  as  184G  the  Bishop  liad  been 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


89 


thought  to  be  lax  in  the  matter  of  Sunday  observance, 
because  he  had  been  present  when  Prince  Albert  played 
at  chess  on  Sunday,  and,  not  considering  this  in  any 
way  a  breach  of  the  law  of  God,  had  not  protested 
ao^ainst  it,  though  he  had  asked  to  be  excused  from 
playing  himself,  on  the  ground  that,  in  the  state  of 
English  feeling  on  the  subject,  it  would  be  highly 
inexpedient  for  him  to  do  so.  In  a  letter  written  at 
the  time  to  Professor  Walker,  he  defends  the  Prince 
in  these  words — "  The  Prince,  you  must  remember, 
has  had  a  Continental  education ;  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  regard  Sunday  as  it  was  regarded,  I  believe, 
over  all  Christendom,  until  the  English  Puritans  altered 
the  English  feelingf — not  as  '  The  Sabbath,'  but  as  the 
great  Christian  Feast  of  the  Lord's  Resurrection, 
much  as  we  keep  Christmas."  He  goes  on  to  say  that 
the  Prince  is  a  "  thoroughly  sincere  Lutheran,  and,  not 
feeling  our  mode  of  keeping  Sunday  to  be  essentially 
religious,  does  not  feel  bound  to  conform  to  it ;  whilst 
he  does  feel  that,  as  our  mode  of  keeping  it  is  now 
associated  with  all  our  religious  feelings,  he  would  on 
no  account  violate  the  religious  feeling  of  others."  In 
the  matter  of  the  Post  Office  Bill,  Bishop  Wilberforce 
took  up  the  same  line,  explaining  in  a  letter  to  the 
Rev.  C.  Barter  that  he  could  not  jDromote  any  petition 
resting  the  obligation  of  Sunday  observance  upon  the 
Fourth  Commandment,  as  he  did  not  think  that 
Commandment  applied  to  those  in  the  Christian  Church. 
Thus,  the  question  for  him  was  whether  our  English 
Sunday  is  to  be  a  day  of  rest  from  labour,  and  of 
religious  exercise,  or  a  day  of  amusement ;  and  he 
desired,  as  his  father  had,  to  assert  its  spiritual 
chnracter,  believing  the  preservation  cf  this  to  be  a 


90 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


main  defence  of  religion  and  morals.  His  conclusion 
is  that  he  could  not,  therefore,  consent  to  the  opening 
of  museums  or  other  public  exhibitions  on  that  day, 
though  he  says  that  at  the  same  time  he  is  "  very 
sensible  of  the  mischievous  exaggeration  of  the  puri- 
tanical view  of  the  subject." 

In  September,  1849,  came  the  papal  bull,  establish- 
ing a  Roman  hierarchy  in  England,  and  creating 
Cardinal  Wiseman  Archbishop  of  Westminster.  The 
secessions  consequent  on  the  Gorham  judgment,  and 
the  fact  that  the  Government  had  conceded  titular 
rank  and  precedence  to  Romish  ecclesiastics  in  Ireland 
and  the  colonies,  coupled  with  this  "  papal  aggression," 
as  it  was  called,  threw  all  England  into  a  ferment,  and 
excited  Protestant  feeling  to  a  high  pitch  of  alarm. 
Bishop  Wilberforce's  dealings  in  the  matter  within  his 
own  diocese,  and  his  speech  on  the  Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill,  against  the  assumption  by  Roman  Catholics 
of  any  titles  taken  from  places  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
show  us  how  he  attempted,  not  unsuccessfully,  to  curb 
dangerous  and  fanatical  panic  on  the  one  side,  and 
unwarrantable  assumptions  on  the  other.  The  Bishop 
presided  over  two  great  meetings  in  the  Oxford  diocese — 
one  at  Reading,  at  which  he  says,  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother,  "  he  rather  expected  to  be  blown  up,"  and  the 
other  at  Oxford,  in  the  Sheldonian  Theatre.  A  form 
of  protest  was  there  solemnly  adopted,  in  a  not 
altogether  friendly  gathering,  against  the  late  usurpation 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  the  schisniatical  character 
of  his  act  in  intruding  a  rival  Church  into  ground 
already  occupied  by  the  Protestant  Church  of  England 
as  by  law  established.  The  claim  made  in  the  pro- 
test, that  "  We  are  THE  Apostolic  Church  of  England," 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


01 


was  considered  objectionable.  The  Bishop  writes  on 
this  point  thus — "  This  is  the  gromid  taken  by  all 
oar  Reformers,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  sharing  it 
with  them.  .  .  We  are  the  Apostolical  Church  of 
England,  holding  the  truth  as  contained  in  God's 
Word,  and  explained  in  primitive  times  by  the  Uni- 
versal Church."  In  this  way  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
made  the  question  of  the  moment  a  means  of  clearing 
away  some  of  the  misapprehensions  concerning  the 
origin  and  position  of  the  Church  of  England,  which 
were  likely  to  mar  her  efficiency,  and  limit  her  com- 
prehensiveness. 

But  Bishop  Wilberforce's  efforts  to  persuade  the 
Church  at  large,  through  his  work  in  his  diocese,  to 
remedy  some  omissions  and  defects,  as  it  seemed  to 
him,  in  her  use  and  interpretation  of  the  true  Cathol- 
icism, by  no  means  exhaust  the  story  of  his  efforts  to  find 
in  the  Church  of  England  a  modus  vivendi  for  the  two 
great  parties  that  have  always,  since  the  Reformation, 
existed  in  her.  He  also  struggled  to  repress  dangerous 
and  un- Anglican  excesses,  where  they  seemed  to  him  to 
involve  theories  and  methods  that  tended  at  that  time 
to  lead  men  on  to  the  adoption  of  the  Roman  system, 
and  theology,  with  all  its  errors.  All  this  then,  as  now, 
centred  round  the  doctrine  that  men  held  about  the 
sacrament  of  the  Holy  Communion ;  and,  before  briefly 
discussing  the  Bishop's  action  in  dealing  with  some 
whom  he  conceived  to  exceed  the  Anglican  teaching  in 
this  matter,  it  may  be  well  to  establish  by  one  or  two 
quotations  from  his  writings,  what,  in  his  opinion,  the 
Church  of  England  jDosition  was.  In  his  charges  he 
often  alludes  with  great  satisfaction  to  tlie  increase  of 
the  number  of  celebrations  of  Holy  Communion  year 


92 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


by  year  in  his  diocese.  This  following  passage  from 
his  charge  for  1857  gives  us  his  idea  on  the  subject. 
It  runs  thus — "  The  more  frequent  administration  of 
that  Holy  Sacrament  is  another  means  I  would 
mention  to  you  for  raising  the  tone  of  our  ministry. 
The  system  of  the  Church  of  England  plainly  supposes 
a  weekly  Communion  in  every  parish,  where  three  or 
four  communicants  can  be  found  to  receive  with  the 
minister ;  and  whilst  such  a  frequency  of  celebration 
would  probably  diminish  the  numbers  present  at  each 
time  of  administration,  and  so  diminish  the  evil  of  the 
length  of  the  service  at  each  time  of  celebration,  it 
would,  I  have  no  doubt,  increase  the  total  number  of 
communicants."  In  1869,  however,  he  takes  occasion 
to  express  the  apprehension  with  which  he  regards  the 
tendency,  unquestionably  manifested  in  certain  quarters, 
to  change  the  idea  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  from  a 
communion  of  the  faithful  into  a  function  of  the 
celebrating  priest.  "  Such  a  change,"  he  says,  "  is,  in 
my  most  mature  judgment,  no  lawful  progress  in 
increased  reverence  for  that  great  sacrament  upon  the 
lines  of  our  own  Church.  For  in  strict  agreement  as 
we  believe  with  the  words  of  Holy  Writ,  and  with  the 
teaching  of  the  primitive  Church,  we  do  not  regard  the 
Communion  of  the  faithful  as  an  accident  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  which'may  be  added  to  it,  or  separated  from 
it,  at  will,  leaving  the  great  function  of  intercession 
untouched  by  the  omission,  but  as  of  the  very  essence 
of  the  sacrament."  As  marks  of  this  mistaken  idea, 
the  Bishop  calls  attention  to  the  desire  with  some 
to  make  the  celebrations  at  the  principal  Sunday 
morning  service  gorgeous  as  a  display,  to  the  multi- 
plication of  choral  Communions,  and  to  the  growing 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


93 


custom  of  iuviting  the  congregation  to  remain  through 
the  service  as  spectators,  but  not  to  partake  of  the 
sacrament  as  communicants.  There  is,  he  states,  no 
ground  known  to  him  for  supposing  that  prayer  offered 
up  by  those  who  are  present  at  the  celebration,  but  do 
not  partake  in  it,  is  one  whit  more  prevailing  than 
prayer  at  any  other  time,  or  in  any  other  place  ;  while 
to  him  it  did  not  seem  that  a  surrounding  crowd  of  non- 
communicants  added  any  honour  to  the  sacrament.i 

His  views  as  to  the  Eucharist  underlay  the  Bishop's 
dealings  with  Dr.  Pusey,  in  the  period  during  which  the 
latter  was  not  allowed  to  preach  in  the  Oxford  diocese. 
Dr.  Dallas,  a  leading  Evangelical  clergyman,  writing  in 
1850,  reproaches  Bishop  Wilberforce  for  forsaking  the 
Evangelical  party,  and  throwing  his  influence  into  the 
opposite  side ;  the  letter  suggests  that  if  the  Bishop 
would  only  inhibit  Dr.  Pusey  from  preaching  in  Mr. 
Marriott's  church,  he  would  thereby  show  that  his 
sympathies  were  not  wholly  on  the  side  of  Tractarianism. 
To  the  accusation  the  Bishop's  reply  is  this — "I  have 
always  held  the  great  Evangelical  truths  as  the  life  of 
my  soul.  I  always  opposed  real  Tractarianism,  i.  e.  the 
putting  tradition  into  the  place  which  Holy  Scripture 
alone  can  occupy,  ceremony  in  the  2:)lace  of  substance, 
giving  to  the  sacraments  the  character  belonging  only 
to  our  Lord,  craving  after  confession  and  absolution,  etc., 
as  sacraraentals."  To  the  suggestion  the  answer  was 
already  given.  A  month  before  Dr.  Dallas'  letter. 
Bishop  Wilberforce  had  requested  Dr.  Pusey  not  to 
preach  in  his  diocese  except  at  Pusey.  These  pro- 
ceedings in  the  matter  of  Dr.  Pusey  were  by  no  naeans 
acceptable  to  the  High  Church  party,  and  tended  to 
1  Charge  1869,  p.  31. 


94  BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


draw  upon  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  disapproval  from 
those  whose  support  he  had  had  in  some  of  his  previous 
difficulties  in  his  diocese.  Circumstances  were  gradually 
leading  up  to  what  was  almost  the  greatest  trouble  of 
Bishop  Wilbcrforce's  life,  the  secession  of  his  brother, 
Archdeacon  Wilberforce,  to  Rome.  Letters  make  it 
l^lain  that,  in  the  matter  of  Dr.  Pusey,  the  two  brothers 
were  not  agreed,  and  there  is  a  presage  of  the  dreaded 
outcome  of  it  all  in  words  relating  to  some  passages  in 
the  Archdeacon's  charge  for  1851.  The  Bishop  of 
Oxford  writes  to  him — "  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have 
got  comfortably  through  your  charge,  though  sorry  that 
you  think  there  is  anything  in  it  as  to  which  we  should 
not  agree.  Oh,  may  this  difference  never  be  widened, 
I  most  earnestly  pray  God  ! "  It  was  not  till  185i  that 
the  decisive  step  was  taken,  and  so  much  did  the 
Bishop  then  feel  his  brother's  decision  that  he  seriously 
contemplated  resigning  his  Bishopric.  The  feeling  of 
growing  disagreement  between  them  did  a  great  deal, 
however,  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  the  line  that,  for 
the  sake  of  the  Church  and  his  diocese,  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford  felt  bound  to  take  up  in  the  matter  of  Dr. 
Pusey  and  his  teaching  and  influence. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  his  episcopacy  there  had 
existed  in  the  Bishojj's  mind  a  distrust,  from  his  point 
of  view,  of  the  influence  Dr.  Pusey  might  exercise  in 
the  position  of  leader  of  the  Tractarian  party,  which  was 
practically  thrust  upon  him  by  Newman's  secession. 
Mr.  Keble  and  his  friends  claimed  that  Dr.  Pusey 's 
influence  did  really  more  than  anything  else  to  keep  in 
the  Church  of  England  many  who,  but  for  him,  would 
have  gone  over  to  Rome.  Thus  the  following  passage 
occurs  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Keble  to  Bishop  Wilberforce, 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


95 


written  in  1851 — "  My  own  conviction  is,  as  I  told  your 
Lordship  before,  that  he  has  been  the  greatest  drag 
upon  those  who  were  rushing  towards  Rome ;  that  such 
an  abuse  being  inevitable,  under  our  circumstances, 
whenever  the  attention  of  thoughtful  persons  should  be 
generally  drawn  towards  the  doctrine  of  the  one  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  Church,  Pusey  was  raised,  as  it  were,  for 
this  very  purpose,  to  hinder  their  defection,  as  by  other 
ways,  so  especially  by  showing  them  that  all  their 
reasonable  yearnings  are  sufficiently  provided  for  in  the 
English  system  rightly  understood."  In  another  letter 
of  the  same  date,  the  same  writer  explains  how  that  by 
Newman's  going,  many  who  were  ready  to  follow 
Newman  were  by  force  of  circumstances  transferred  to 
Pusey,  who  kept  them  back  for  a  time.  "  He  was  (as 
Newman  once  said  of  himself)  like  a  hen  with  a  brood 
of  ducklings :  no  fault  of  his  that  they  took  to  the 
water  at  last."  Now  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  while  he  had 
a  great  regard  for  Dr.  Pusey's  character,  holiness,  and 
learning,  and  acquitted  him  of  heresy,  did  think  that, 
however  unintentionally,  it  was  his  fault  that  many  of 
those  who  sought  his  counsel  ended  with  Rome.  In 
1850  he  writes  to  his  brother.  Archdeacon  Wilberforce, 
on  the  matter,  and  explains  how  he  has  begun  to  re- 
proach himself  with  slumbering  when  he  ought  to  be 
banishing  and  driving  away  strange  doctrines  from  his 
diocese.  It  was  in  this  year  that  Mr.  Dodsworth,  a 
London  incumbent,  called  in  question  the  wisdom  of 
Dr.  Pusey's  coui'se  in  adapting  for  English  use  certain 
devotional  books  of  Roman  origin,  specially  with  reference 
to  the  view  that  they  suggested  about  the  sacrament  of 
Holy  Communion.  Upon  this  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
wrote  to  Dr.  Pusey,  calling  upon  him  to  give  some 


96 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


distinct  ami  public  answer  to  Mr.  Dodsworth's  charges ; 
and  also  to  satisfy  his  Bishop,  by  material  changes  in 
the  practices  he  encouraged,  and  in  the  tone  of  his 
teaching,  that  he  would  no  longer  be  likely  to  lead 
people  to  the  corruptions,  or  the  Communion,  of  the  See 
of  Rome.  The  result  was  that  Dr.  Pusey  acquiesced  in  a 
wish  of  his  Bishop's,  that  he  should  abstain  from  preaching 
in  the  diocese  of  Oxford.  He  was  not  formally  inhibited, 
and  even  if  he  had  inhibited  him,  Bishop  Wilberforce 
makes  it  clear  that  he  would  only  have  considered 
himself  to  be  exercising  a  lesser  power  vested  in  him 
for  lesser  instances,  and  by  no  means  to  iniply  that  the 
man  thus  restrained  was  a  fit  subject  for  a  prosecution,  or 
worthy  of  deprivation.  Both  Mr.  Kebleand  Mr.  Justice 
Coleridge  interceded  with  the  Bishop  on  Dr.  Pusey's 
behalf,  and  the  latter  stated  his  own  belief  that  nothing 
could  so  unsettle  the  minds  of  a  large  number  of  people, 
at  present  quite  loyal  to  the  Church,  as  to  see  a  bishop 
engaged  against  Dr.  Pusey ;  he  also  went  on  to  say, 
that  "  though  it  would  not  satisfy  him  with  Rome,  it 
would  dissatisfy  him  with  the  Church  of  England,  did 
he  believe  that  that  Church  did  not  sanction  Dr.  Pusey's 
opinions."  The  Bishop's  answer  was  that  he  was  most 
anxious  not  to  take  further  steps,  but  that  he  was  con- 
vinced that  Dr.  Pusey's  adapted  books  had  eminently 
aided,  and  were  aiding,  the  Romanizing  movement;  that 
there  were  elements  in  his  private  ministry  tending  the 
same  way,  and  that  there  were  passages  in  his  adapted 
books  actually  censurable  in  a  Church  Court.  In  his 
charge  for  1852,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  went  fully  into 
the  question  of  the  dangers  of  the  adapted  books,  and 
explained  how  they  were  likely  to  lead  men,  specially 
the  more  uninstructed,  into  receiving  and  adopting 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


97 


erroneous  views  ;  he  also  noted  all  the  dangers  which  he 
feared  from  such  a  ministry  as  that  which  Dr.  Pusey 
seemed  to  him  to  exercise,  although  his  own  views 
might  nevertheless  be  in  accordance  with  the  Church  of 
England  standard  of  doctrine.  The  fact  that  he  had 
done  this,  taken  in  connection  with  private  assurances 
from  Dr.  Pusey  of  the  strength  of  his  convictions,  and 
the  earnestness  of  his  labours  against  Roman  doctrine, 
seemed  to  make  it  right  for  the  Bishop,  as  he  re- 
membered the  large  liberty  allowed  to  our  clergy,  to 
set  him  free  to  preach  once  more,  which  accordingly 
he  did. 

Now  one  of  the  things,  which  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
specially  feared  about  Dr.  Pusey's  ministry  was,  that  he 
was  one  who  encouraged  those  who  came  to  him  to 
seek  private  absolution,  and  to  practise  regular  con- 
fession. He  also  feared  that  he  put  to  those  who  thus 
came  to  him  questions  which  might  have  the  efifect  of 
suggesting  evil  to  otherwise  innocent  minds,  of  weaken- 
ing parental  authority,  and  revealing  the  lawful  and 
necessary  secrets  of  private  family  life.  As  regards  all 
this  we  find  in  Dr.  Pusey's  letters  such  answers  as 
these — "  I  never  induce  or  recommend  any  person  to 
come  a  second  time " ;  "  All  habitual  confession  is  of 
jieople's  own  seeking,  and  I  see  them  very  much  less 
frequently  than  they  wish " ;  "  '  We  do  not  object  to 
any  manner  of  confession,  public  or  private,  saving 
compulsion,'  seems  the  language  of  all  the  authorities  in 
the  Church  of  England."  But  the  question  of  con- 
fession in  the  Church  of  England,  and  its  legitimate  use, 
was  one  of  the  points  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  was 
compelled  most  frequently  to  explain.  The  Low  Church 
party  often  accused  him  of  advocating  the  Roman 

H 


98 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


system  ;  and  when,  in  1858,  the  accusation  against  Mr. 
West,  of  Boyne  Hill,  for  improperly  trying  to  extort  a 
confession  from  a  sick  woman,  was  declared  by  the  Bishop 
to  be  unsupported  by  evidence,  and  was  thrown  out  by 
his  commission,  an  attack  was  made  on  him,  headed  by 
the  Times,  as  a  favourer  of  the  confessional  in  its 
worst  and  most  enslaving  form. 

In  the  Sisterhoods  of  his  diocese  the  Bishop  had  to 
set  his  face  against  it  in  an  un- Anglican  form,  as  the 
following  passage  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Carter  shows — 
"  If  Sisterhoods  cannot  be  maintained,  except  upon  a 
semi-Romanist  scheme  with  its  dii-ection,  with  its  self- 
consciousness  and  morbid  religious  affection,  with  its 
exaltation  of  the  contemplative  life,  its  perpetual  con- 
fession, and  its  un-English  tone,  I  am  perfectly  con- 
vinced that  we  had  better  have  no  Sisterhoods."  The 
same  difficulty  faced  him  in  a  lesser  degree  at 
Cuddesdon,  in  the  College,  and  followed  him  even  to 
Winchester,  where,  during  the  last  year  of  his  life,  he 
was  called  upon  to  make  three  distinct  public  utter- 
ances on  the  subject  of  private  confession.  His  views 
then  were  identical  with  those  expressed  in  1850  in  the 
letters  which  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Pusey,  and  others  who  then 
corresponded  with  him  about  Dr.  Pusey  and  his  teach- 
ing. The  folloAving  extracts  from  letters  written  in 
1851  show  us  plainly  what  those  views  were — "  She  [the 
Church  of  England]  discourages  such  confession  as  an 
habitual  custom,  and  gives  no  authority  to  her 
ministers  to  treat  it  as  the  common  diet  of  the  soul 
under  the  ordinary  circumstances  of  the  spiritual  life — 
still  less  to  press,  with  all  the  force  of  spiritual  authority, 
it  and  its  repetition  as  a  duty  and  means  of  grace,  so 
that  tender  consciences  are  constrained,  and  feel  well- 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


99 


nigh  forced  to  employ  it  as  almost  essential  to  their 
safety."  And  once  more  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  C. 
Marriott — "There  is  no  subject  on  which  the  differ- 
ence of  our  Church  and  the  Roman  Communion  seems 
to  me  more  important  thaa  this — no  religious  practice 
as  to  which  it  is  more  dangerous  for  our  clergy  to  trifle 
with  Roman  tendencies.  The  difference,  as  I  appre- 
hend it,  lies  here.  The  Romanists  altogether  in  fact, 
and  very  largely  in  theory,  supersede  conscience  by  the 
priest.  They  believe  that  none  can  safely  manage 
their  own  conscience — that  the  state,  therefore,  of 
religious  health  is  to  practise  confession  to  the  priest, 
and  receive  from  him  absolution  and  direction ;  and  I 
believe  that  no  single  part  of  their  debasing  system  has 
produced  such  deadly  fruit  as  this."  It  was  natural 
then  that  in  his  struggle  to  disentangle,  for  the  use  and 
life  of  the  Church  in  his  diocese,  what  was  genuine  and 
really  Catholic  from  what  was  the  product  of  Roman 
error  and  corruption.  Bishop  Wilberforce  should  find,  as 
he  did,  peculiar  difficulties  and  misunderstandings  in 
the  prejudices  and  mistakes  that  gathered  round  the 
question  of  the  right  use  of  confession  in  the  Church  of 
England. 

One  great  result  of  the  Church  revival,  which  had  for 
its  cause  the  first  phases  of  the  Tractarian  movement, 
was  that  Churchmen  became  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
providing  some  more  special  and  systematic  training 
for  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  To  this  day  the 
Church  of  England  is  lamentably  defective  in  this 
respect,  and  enforces  much  too  little  preparation  on 
those  who  are  called  in  her  to  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
Three  lines  of  thought,  born  of  three  sorts  of  error,  have 
all  contributed  to  this  result :  first,  the  idea  borrowed 


100 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


from  Rome,  that  it  requires  but  little  learning  to 
administer  the  sacraments ;  secondly,  the  notion  that  the 
call  at  once  makes  the  instrument  fit ;  and  thirdly,  the 
natural  sympathy  that  has  too  often  been  supposed  to 
exist  between  the  family  living  and  the  family  fool.  It 
has  moreover  been  increasingly  felt  that  the  Universities, 
specially  since  they  have  been  open  to  men  of  all 
denominations,  supply  no  more  than  a  good  and  wide 
basis  for  a  later  special  training.  Hence  has  come  the 
multiplication  and  foundation  of  theological  colleges ; 
and  one  of  the  very  first  things  that  Bishop  Wilberforce 
planned  for  the  woi'king  of  his  diocese  was  a  College 
at  Cuddesdon,  where  graduates  might  go  and  spend 
some  time  in  preparing  for  their  Ordination.  His  idea 
was  that  during  their  residence  these  men  should  receive 
a  threefold  training  in — (1)  Devotion,  (2)  Parochial 
Work,  (3)  Theological  Reading.  In  his  charge  for  1860 
the  Bishop  expresses  thus  his  opinion  of  the  use  and 
function  of  these  colleges — "  All  the  influences  of  a 
well-managed  theological  college  are  in  favour  of  its 
inmates.  The  experience  and  personal  piety  of  the 
jiriucipal  and  his  assistant  clergy  are  brought  to  bear, 
with  a  marked  individuality  of  application,  upon  each 
one  within  its  walls.  The  student  has  everything  to 
invite  him  to,  and  to  assist  him  in,  theological  study ; 
he  is  taught,  to  the  infinite  saving  of  time  and  labour, 
what  to  notice,  what  to  learn,  and  what  to  pass  more 
lightly  over.  He  becomes  accustomed  to  regular  hours 
of  prayer,  religious  reading,  and  meditation.  The 
unity  of  object  and  preparation  which  pervades  the 
whole  body  of  students — though  injurious  in  its  effect 
upon  the  mind  before  general  studies  and  mixture 
with  men  of  dilfurcnt  purposes  of  life  and  different 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


101 


habits  of  thought  have  given  to  it  elasticity  and 
breadth — is  a  most  wholesome  influence  after  the 
course  of  an  English  school  and  an  English  university 
on  one  preparing  for  an  office  of  such  difficulty  and 
importance,  and  which  demands  so  absolutely,  for  its 
due  fulfilment,  the  whole  devotion  of  the  whole  man 
to  its  duties." 

Round  this  College  at  Cuddesdon,  and  its  work, 
centred  the  last  phase  of  the  almost  systematic  opposition 
which,  in  the  period  after  the  Hampden  difficulty,  the 
Low  Church  party  felt  it  their  duty  to  offer  to  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  efforts  at  Church  extension,  revival,  and 
reform  in  his  diocese.  There  was  evidently  a  distrust 
existing  in  their  minds  of  the  Bishop's  dealings  with 
the  younger  clergy,  an  evidence  of  which  is  found  in  a 
formal  complaint,  which  the  Bishop  amply  and  suffici- 
ently answered,  one  part  of  which  alleged  that  he  had 
refused  a  licence,  on  account  of  the  curate-designate 
not  agreeing  with  the  Bishop's  views  on  baptismal 
regeneration.  Thus  the  Low  Churchmen  almost 
instinctively  shrank  from  Cuddesdon  College,  and  its 
training,  as  a  place  where  the  younger  clergy  received 
a  stamp  that,  in  their  eyes,  was  as  dangerous  in  its 
tendencies,  as  the  Bishop  himself  considered  Dr.  Pusey's 
teaching.  Moreover,  the  life  at  Cuddesdon,  with  its 
quiet  order  and  rule  and  its  devotional  character,  was 
strange  in  those  days ;  and  with  men  who  by  tradition 
and  training  had  an  unreasonable  dread  of  Rome,  it 
did  seem,  in  its  possible  suggestions  of  monasticism,  a 
part  of  the  supposed  conspiracy  to  unprotestantize  the 
Church  of  England.  Men's  minds  had  not  learnt  to 
see  how  much  vitality  and  force  was  to  be  found  in 
Catholic  practices  and  doctrines,  which,  being  dangerous 


102 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


perhaps  in  the  ideas  that  were  common  at  the  time  of 
the  Reformation,  could,  as  it  has  been  proved,  be  safely 
and  profitably  revived  in  later  times.  It  is  certainly  a 
little  difficult  now  for  us  to  imagine  the  Times  main- 
taining that  two  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England 
would,  if  they  were  conscientious  men,  resign  their 
preferments,  because  they  advocated  their  clergy  preach- 
ing in  the  sui-jilice.  We  have  lived  to  see  that  much, 
which  was  regarded  in  the  Cuddesdon  system  as  harm- 
ful, was,  and  is,  really  helpful ;  though  we  can  also  see 
that  the  old  opposition  was,  if  narrow  and  illiberal,  at 
any  rate  conscientious. 

In  the  Quarterly  Bevietv  for  January  1858,  the  writer 
of  an  article  on  "  Church  Extension  "  made  somewhat 
severe  strictures  on  Cuddesdon  College,  which  had  then 
been  in  existence  some  three  years  and  a  half  Before 
these  could  be  answered,  a  circular  letter  was  addressed 
to  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Oxford  diocese,  which 
practically  recapitulated  the  charges  made  in  the 
Quarterly,  and  made  distinct  charges  against  the  ritual 
of  the  College.  The  letter  was  written  by  the  Rev. 
C.  P.  Golightly,  who  had  convinced  himself  that  the 
tendency  of  the  College  teaching  was  "  to  sow  broadcast 
the  seeds  of  Romish  perversion  in  the  counties  of 
Oxford,  Berks,  and  Bucks."  He  had  already  had  a 
correspondence  with  the  Bishop  in  the  preceding 
autumn,  and  appears,  in  the  face  of  the  many  perver- 
sions to  Rome  which  had  followed  from  the  last 
phases  of  the  Tractarian  movement,  to  have  viewed  the 
College  at  Cuddesdon  and  the  training  that  it  offered 
with  alarm,  and  specially  the  teaching  and  influence 
of  the  Vice-Principal,  the  Rev.  H.  P.  Liddon.  The 
Bishop's  reply  was  as  follows — "  You  must  let  me  have 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


103 


a  full  talk  with  you  on  the  whole  matter,  for  it  is  too 
long  for  a  letter.  You  are  quite  right  in  saying  that  I 
abhor  Romisli  doctrine,  but  you  are  mistaken  in  thinking 
that  I  like  Romish  rites  and  ceremonies.  Everything 
Romish  stinks  in  my  nostrils.  I  cannot  allow  the  truth 
of  your  remark  about  Cuddesdon  College.  Men  have 
come  there  with  strong  Roman  leanings  and  left  it 
cured,  but  I  do  not  believe  any  one  has  there  acquired 
any  Romish  tastes.  There  are,  it  is  true,  little  things 
that  I  should  wish  otherwise,  but  men  must  work  by 
instruments  of  the  greatest  possible  excellence  in 
fundamentals ;  it  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  clearly 
wrong  to  cast  them  away  for  non-essentials.  I  think 
my  Vice-Principal  eminently  endued  with  the  power 
of  leading  men  to  earnest,  devoted  piety,  but  with 
such  a  man  I  do  not  think  I  ought  to  interfere, 
except  as  to  anything  substantially  important."  ^  This 
does  not,  however,  seem  to  have  satisfied  the  Bishop's 
correspondent;  it  still  seemed  to  him  that  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  talents  and  zeal  were  being  misdirected 
to  the  support  of  views  and  doctrines  which  were, 
and  ought  to  be,  wholly  alien  to  the  mind  of  the 
English  people  at  large.  A  further  letter  drew  from 
the  Bishop  a  declaration  that,  in  his  opinion,  Mr. 
Golightly,  and  those  with  him,  started  from  a  principle 
which  did  not  really  represent  the  true  spirit  and  stand- 
point of  the  Church  of  England  as  the  Catholic  and 
Apostolic  Church,  and  that  the  College  might  be  trusted 
to  turn  out  then,  and  in  the  future,  a  succession  of 
hearty  Church  of  England  men.  His  own  feeling  was 
that  the  views  which  were  perhaps  just  then  unpopular, 
and  from  which  the  mind  of  the  nation  was  inclined  to 
1  Life,  ii.  pp.  358—367. 


104 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


alienate  itself,  were  really  essential  if  the  Church  of 
England  was  to  be  the  Church.  The  attitude  which 
he  felt  it  right  to  assume  in  the  matter  is  well  explained 
in  a  passage  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Golightly,  which 
runs  thus — "  If  I  believe,  as  in  the  main  I  do,  that 
the  aversion  of  the  nation  is  to  the  declaration  of  the 
spiritual  presence  of  Christ,  and  the  personal  presence 
of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  with  the  Church,  and  the 
consequent  truths  of  God's  teaching  through  sacraments, 
etc.,  I  could  not  honestly  obtain  the  sympathy  my 
soul  naturally  longs  for,  by  in  any  measure  clouding 
the  truth." 

All  this,  however,  did  not  satisfy  the  party  and  school 
represented  by  Mr.  Golightly ;  they  thought  that  Cud- 
desdon  must  unprotestantize  the  clergy  as  far  as  its  in- 
fluence could  reach.  They  could  not  rest,  and  therefore, 
rightly  enough,  made  the  article  in  the  Quarterly  a 
ground  for  again  pressing  their  point.  The  Bishop  then 
appointed  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  charges  made 
against  the  College,  which  in  its  report,  to  quote  the 
Bishop's  words  in  the  letter  in  which  he  enclosed  it  to 
the  Principal,  "  completely  negatived  every  charge."  At 
the  same  time  the  archdeacons,  who  drew  it  up,  sug- 
gested certain  alterations  in  the  service-book,  and  in 
what  they  considered  the  too  great  ornament  displayed 
in  the  chapel.  Bishop  Wilberforce  urged  attention  to 
these,  as  touching  points  which  were  liable  to  create 
serious  alarm  and  misunderstanding  in  the  state  of 
feeling  that  then  prevailed.  At  the  annual  gathering 
of  the  year  1858,  the  rural  deans  carried,  by  a  large 
majority,  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  they  wished  to 
express  their  thanks  to  the  Principal  of  the  College  for 
the  statement  which  he  had  made,  in  answer  to  a 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


105 


question  put  to  him  at  their  meeting,  showing  how 
readily  he  had  complied  with  the  recommendation 
of  the  Commissioners.  They  also  assured  him  of  their 
full  confidence  in  his  desire  to  conduct  the  College  in 
true  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  England.  Thus  the 
agitation  ended ;  though  it  seemed  to  some  not  to  be 
without  its  effect  in  the  resignations  during  the  follow- 
ing year  of  the  Principal  and  Vice-Principal  of  tlie 
College  at  Cuddesdon.  The  connection,  however, 
between  the  agitation  and  these  events,  if  it  existed  at 
all,  was  certainly  a  remote  one,  as  the  Rev.  A.  Pott,  the 
Principal  of  the  College,  found  it  necessary  from  ill- 
health  to  accept  a  country  living ;  and  the  resignation 
of  the  Vice-Principal,  the  Rev.  H.  P.  Liddon,  illustrates 
another  phase  of  the  attitude  that  Bishop  Wilberforce 
felt  it  right  to  adopt  toward  the  religious  questions  of 
the  day. 

Tlie  after-history  of  the  Rev.  H.  P.  Liddon  has 
shown  abundantly  his  greatness,  his  ability,  and  his 
force  of  character.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  he  should 
have  exercised  a  remarkable  and  dominant  influence 
over  the  Cuddesdon  students.  Bishop  Wilberforce  did 
not  think  that  he  differed  doctrinally  from  his  able 
Vice-Principal,  but  he  has  thus  expressed  his  own  idea 
of  the  way  in  which  their  theological  standing-place 
was  not  identical — "  On  the  great  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist  we  should  use  somewhat  different  language, 
and  our  Ritualistic  tendencies  would  be  all  coloured  by 
this.  On  confession,  and  its  expedient  limits,  we 
should  also,  I  think,  differ."  Again  in  a  letter  to  the 
Rev.  W.  J.  Butler,  of  Wantage,  he  writes  thus — "  Now 
I  do  not  think  the  abstract  doctrinal  difference  between 
us  (c.  g.  on  Eucharistic  adoration)  THE  point.   It  seems. 


106 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


to  me  that  between  all  wlio  hold  the  objective  presence, 
with  its  consequences,  there  can  be  no  fundamental 
difference  here.  I  could  quarrel  with  no  man  who 
honestly  denied  Transubstantiation,  as  to  Eucharistic 
adoration.  It  is  not  therefore  exactly  Liddon's  doctrinal 
views  taken  alone,  as  to  which  I  feel  the  importance  of 
the  difference.  It  is  as  much  or  more  a  moral  question." 
From  the  Bishop's  point  of  view,  the  Vice-Principal  of 
Cuddesdon,  out  of  the  greatness  of  his  personality,  and 
the  force  of  his  own  earnest  and  deep  convictions, 
stamped  his  best  men  at  Cuddesdon  with  a  peculiar 
mark.  He  seemed  to  feel  himself  obliged  to  go  beyond 
the  Bishop,  where  his  views  were  in  advance  of  his ; 
and  the  result  was  that  there  went  out  of  the  College 
men  whose  views  were,  to  use  a  now  common  ex- 
pression, more  sacerdotal  than  those  of  his  chief.  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford's  close  connection  with  his  theological 
college  caused  it  to  be,  as  he  himself  puts  it,  that  he 
was  judged  of  in  his  secret  intention  for  the  diocese  by 
the  exact  shade  imparted  by  it  to  the  men  it  sent  out. 
His  no-party  policy  in  the  diocese  passed  for  mere 
temporizing,  and  the  Cuddesdon  man  came  to  be  known 
from  the  non-Cuddesdon  man,  not  only  by  his  loving 
more,  working  more,  and  praying  more,  but  by  other 
"  peculiarities."  The  Bishop  feared  that  all  this  might 
hinder  the  work  he  most  desired  to  perform,  and  so  it 
was  that,  with  a  heavy  heart,  and  much  regret  for  what 
he  was  losing,  he  acquiesced  in  the  necessity  that 
caused  him  to  accept  the  resignation  of  his  Vice- 
Principal. 

He  had  still  to  face  more  fierce  outcries  against  his 
Romanizing  proclivities  after  the  Boyne  Hill  case ;  and 
there  are  also  found  letters  in  which  at  this  period  of 


DIOCESAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


107 


his  career  he  took  the  Record  to  task  for  its  per- 
sistent calumniations.  Then  by  1860  came  a  period 
of  comparative  calm ;  his  troubled  diocese,  for  a  variety 
of  causes,  grew  peaceful  and  liarmonious.  The  Oxford 
clergy  had  come  to  understand  their  Bishop,  and  to 
appreciate  his  character  and  work.  Further  attacks  of 
the  same  nature  on  the  Romanizing  tendency  of  his 
episcopate  called  forth  expressions  of  confidence,  both 
publicly  and  privately ;  it  began  to  be  freely  acknow- 
ledged that,  as  a  letter  to  the  Cruardian  expressed  it,  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  any  one,  on  or  off  the  episcopal 
bench,  the  like  amount  of  ministerial  exertion.  A 
pamphlet  proceeding  from  the  same  source  as  the 
objections  that  had  been  urged  against  Cuddesdon,  and 
called  "  Facts  and  Documents,  Showing  the  Alarming 
State  of  the  Oxford  Diocese,  by  a  Senior  Clergyman  of 
the  Diocese,"  was  circulated  in  1859.  But  the  diocese 
in  general  took  this  rather  as  an  attack  on  itself ;  it  felt 
that  its  Bishop  did,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  fully  sym- 
pathize with  all  that  was  positive  in  the  views  of  his 
Evangelical  brethren,  and  knew  their  favourite  truths, 
as  the  life  of  his  own  soul."  Clergy  and  laity,  in  large 
numberg,  came  forward  to  assure  him  that  they  recog- 
nized that  he  had  endeavoured  to  administer  his 
diocese,  "  so  as  to  maintain  and  set  forward  that  Evan- 
gelical truth  and  that  Apostolical  order  which,  through 
God's  mercy,  is  the  precious  inheritance  of  our  own 
Church  of  England." 

These  last  are  once  more  the  Bishop's  own  words, 
contained  in  his  reply  to  an  address  of  confidence 
signed  by  more  than  five  hundred  clergy,  and  sent  by 
one  of  the  oldest  clergymen  in  the  diocese,  who  had,  in 
fact,  ministered  under  six  successive  Bishops  of  Oxford. 


108 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


The  detraction  and  unpopularity  of  this  Jong  period  of 
struggle ;  the  difficulties  of  the  Hampden  case ;  family 
sorrows,  in  secessions  of  some  of  his  dearest  relatives 
to  Rome,  and  in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son — all  these 
things,  as  his  more  private  letters  and  writings  show, 
worked  together  to  make  him  more  fit  to  render 
important  services  to  the  Church,  which  he  loved  so  well, 
and  whose  real  character  and  position  he  so  thoroughly 
understood.  Under  them  he  grew  wiser,  more  appre- 
ciative, and  more  skilful ;  so  that  he  could  better  bring 
the  Church  away  from  extremes  to  a  more  healthy 
and  free  place,  and  allay  panic,  while  much  good  was 
reviving  in  her,  which  had,  not  long  since,  been  almost 
dead. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 

In  the  Quarterly  Bcvicxv  for  October  1863,  an  article 
by  Bisliop  Wilberforce  reviews  the  episcopates  of 
Bishop  Blomfield,  Bishop  Stanley,  and  Bishop  Wilson. 
The  writer  explains  that  he  has  chosen  to  discuss  these 
three  "  indicative  lives,"  because  he  believes  them  to 
contain  in  an  eminent  degree  the  materials  from  which 
the  religious  character  and  prospects  of  his  own  time 
may  be  gathered.  In  his  opinion  the  history  of  our 
Church  traced  through  these  lives  is  "  a  record  of  pro- 
gress— of  ]'eal  and  important  progress;  perhaps,  even  of 
progress  in  every  direction  " ;  and  he  summarizes  this 
in  the  following  words : — "  The  Church  has  far  more 
completely  than  heretofore  learned  to  realize  her  own 
principles  and  position,  and  this  in  great  measure  by 
the  curative  and  healthful  processes  of  honest  and 
laborious  action.  Many  mists  have  been  swept  away ; 
many  questions  solved;  a  far  higher  sense  of  duty 
become  general ;  the  idea  of  worship  has  revived ; 
preaching  instead  of  being  undervalued  has  risen  in 
general  estimation  (witness  the  nave  services  in  our 
cathedrals,  and  the  leading  articles  of  our  newspapers), 
and  yet  it  has  taken  far  more  its  true  second  place  in 


110 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


our  ideas  of  worship,  not  because  it  lias  sunk,  but 
because  prayer  has  risen  in  our  ordinary  estimation. 
With  far  less  tendency  to  the  corruptions  of  Rome,  we 
have  put  forth  more  abundantly  at  home  the  blessed 
shoots  of  a  loving  cliarity.  Our  churches  have  been 
restored,  in  some  dioceses  even  marvellously ;  larger 
provision  has  been  made  for  works  of  charity  ;  Sister- 
hoods have  been  founded  and  matured,  in  which  the 
quick  energies  of  Christian  women,  wedded  to  a  life  of 
devotion,  can  be  combined  and  regulated ;  associations 
have  risen  on  every  side  for  increasing  church  accom- 
modation, the  ministry  of  the  Word  and  sacraments, 
and  the  education  of  all  orders  and  degrees  amongst  us. 
Coeval  with  these  signs  of  life,  there  may  be  traced  on 
all  sides  more  unity,  diminished  suspicion,  amongst 
those  who  have  not  yet  learned  to  feel  aright  the 
degradations  of  party  designations  within  the  Church 
Catholic ;  and  this  with  no  repression  of  the  open  avowal 
of  legitimate  differences;  with  the  laity  taking  more 
share  than  they  ever  did  before  in  all  Church  matters ; 
with  Convocation  sitting  regularly,  and  discussing  freely 
every  Church  question,  and  daily  more  and  more 
referred  to,  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  as  the  proper 
exponent  of  the  views  of  the  clergy  of  England." 
Under  these  circumstances,  to  borrow  a  telling  ex- 
pression from  the  same  article,  it  had  become  clear  to 
far-sighted  politicians  that  the  time  was  passed,  "  when 
the  Church  could  be  esteemed  as  a  poor  relation,  whom 
it  was  not  reputable  to  disavow,  nor  possible  to  acknow- 
ledge without  certain  loss." 

Now  the  change  in  the  position  of  Convocation,  that 
took  place  between  the  years  1847  and  1863,  had 
contributed  immensely  to  the  quickening  of  the  vitality 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


Ill 


of  the  Churcli,  and  its  consequent  strengthening  as  an 
establishment,  to  which  reference  is  made  above.  It 
was  both  a  cause  and  an  effect  in  this;  for,  in  the 
first  place,  it  was  the  increasing  power  and  influence 
of  the  Church  that  made  her  desire  once  again  to  find 
her  long  silenced  voice ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  it 
was  the  finding  of  that  voice  that  gave  her  a  power  of 
protest  in  times  of  danger  and  oppression,  and  enabled 
her  to  claim  her  true  position,  and  make  new  demands. 
Our  concern  is  with  the  part  that  Bishop  Wilberforce 
played  in  this  revival,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  at 
once  that,  without  him,  it  could  not  have  been  as 
successfully  accomplished  as  it  has  been.  It  was  not 
that  the  idea  originated  with  him,  or  that  he  was  the 
first,  or  only  one,  to  perceive  that,  by  making  the 
meetings  of  Convocation  a  reality,  the  Church  of  England 
might  find  relief  from  many  embarrassments  and 
perplexities.  It  was  rather  that  his  energy,  his  public 
and  private  influence,  and  his  great  personal  gifts,  made 
him  able,  beyond  all  his  contemporaries,  to  carry 
through  the  delicate  and  difficult  negotiations,  whereby, 
in  the  face  of  much  mistrust  and  dislike.  Convocation 
was  allowed  to  wake  up  in  some  measure  from  its  long 
sleep. 

Its  suppression,  some  140  years  before,  may  be  said 
to  have  been  the  outcome  of  an  idea  which  had  long 
been  growing,  that  the  bishops  of  our  Established 
Church  had  interests  different  from  those  of  the  Church 
at  large.  Their  actions  and  their  appointments  were 
governed  too  much  by  political  and  secular  con- 
siderations ;  they  were  willing  to  think  that  their  seats 
in  the  House  of  Lords  gave  their  Church  a  sufficient 
representation  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  that 


112 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


they,  without  any  thought  of,  or  consultation  with,  the 
clergy  at  large,  were  in  effect  the  Cliurch  of  England 
by  themselves.  Under  Queen  Anne  there  had  broken 
out  a  violent  and  unseemly  contention  between  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Houses  of  Convocation.  The  Lower 
House,  even  when  they  had  right  on  their  side,  grew 
accustomed  to  assert  themselves  in  a  way  that  was  not 
creditable  or  seemly.  All  this  helped  to  foster  the  idea 
which  was  made  the  very  most  of  by  opponents  at  the 
time  of  the  revival  of  synodal  action  in  the  Church ; 
it  was  repeatedly  urged  that  to  call  Convocation 
together  for  business  would  only  be  to  initiate  strife. 
But  at  the  time  of  the  actual  suppression  of  the 
Convocations  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  reign  of 
George  I.,  the  spirit  of  the  two  Houses  was  better ;  they 
had  grown  more  peaceful  in  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the 
great  and  serious  importance  of  their  common  work. 
It  seems  clear  that  the  Upper  House  would  have 
supported  the  representations  of  the  Lower  House 
against  Bishop  Hoadley  and  his  heresies,  if  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  day,  fearing  their  unanimity  in  the  matter, 
had  not  brought  it  about  that  they  were  suddenly  and 
suratnarily  prorogued  by  order  of  the  King.  From  that 
time  till  1851  Convocation  existed  indeed,  but  only  to 
vote  an  address  to  the  Crown  at  the  opening  of  a 
Session  of  Parliament.  So  the  Church  of  England 
suffered  a  great  disability  from  its  connection  with  the 
State.  It  could  not,  as  other  religious  bodies  in  the 
Kingdom,  regulate  and  discuss  its  own  affairs ;  it  could 
not  ventilate  its  grievances ;  it  could  not  adapt  its 
organizations  and  arrangements  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
times.  And  all  the  while  the  bench  of  bishops,  as  a 
whole,  was  well  content  to  have  it  so;  for  the  State 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  113 

generally  came  first  with  them,  and  their  duties  to  the 
Government  which  promoted  them  had  the  paramount 
claim.  They  did  not,  moreover,  recognize  that  the 
clergy  at  large  had,  or  ought  to  have,  a  voice  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Church ;  it  was  altogether  convenient  to 
them  that  meetings  of  Convocation  should  be  a  mere 
form.  It  is  almost  strange,  under  the  circumstances, 
that  Convocation  continued  to  exist  at  all,  and  that, 
when  the  time  came  that  bishops  and  Churchmen  began 
to  desire  a  means  of  making  the  Church  heard,  they 
had  not,  in  starting  something  new,  a  task  more 
difficult  even  than  the  reviving  of  the  old.  As  late  as 
1832  Bishop  Blomfield  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  "We  do  not  wish  for  a  Convocation,"  and 
in  1883  to  a  clergyman,  "I  am  much  inclined  to  doubt 
whether  it  be  expedient  to  revive  the  ancient  functions 
of  Convocation  as  at  present  constituted."  It  is  to  be 
noticed  also,  that  Bishop  Wilberforce  himself,  in  spite 
of  his  later  ardent  advocacy  of  the  revival,  had  an  open 
and  growing  mind  in  the  matter,  and  was  himself  once 
as  clear  as  Bishop  Blomfield  as  to  the  inexpediency  of 
an  operative  Convocation.  The  following  passage  from 
a  letter  to  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Hook,  then  Vicar  of  Coventry, 
written  in  1836,  illustrates  this — "Some  recent  meet- 
ings, I  see,  have  proceeded  to  petition  for  a  restoration 
of  Convocation.  It  is  a  painful  admission;  but  I  am 
persuaded  that  we  could  not  risk  a  Convocation.  The 
examples  commonly  alleged  fail,  I  think,  of  agreement 
with  our  case.  The  Kirk  Establishment  of  Scotland, 
the  Methodist  Conference,  etc.,  jwoceed  upon  generally 
admitted  and  maintained  general  principles  ;  but  the 
great  bulk  of  our  clergy  are  still  so  ignorant  of  Church 
principles,  that  we  have  no  sufficient  bond  of  union  to 

I 


114 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


resist  the  necessary  divisions  which  must  always  spring 
from  the  shades  of  individual  opinions,  and  we  should 
fight  in  the  presence  of  our  enemies."  The  circum- 
stances under  which  Convocation  had  been  suppressed, 
made  even  friends  afraid  that  a  revival  of  its  powers, 
amidst  the  misunderstandings  and  oppositions  of  the 
two  great  sections  of  the  Church,  might  lead  to  harm 
and  trouble.  When,  in  1840,  Archdeacon  S.  Wilberforce 
preached  the  Latin  Sermon  before  the  Convocation  of 
Canterbury,  it  is  plain  that  he  sees  its  revived  activity 
to  be  yet  nearer  and  more  desirable  than  when  he 
expressed  his  opinion  in  1836.  At  the  same  time  he 
clearly  feels  that  the  only  real  hastening  towards  the 
desired  end  involves  making  haste  very  slowly  and 
cautiously  indeed.  All  this  is  shown  in  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  written  after  his  sermon  to  his 
brother  Robert — "  My  sermon  has  gone  off  very  well. 
People  seemed  pleased.  All  is  stirring  here.  There  is 
a  great  talk  of  amending  the  Archbishop's  address,  by 
putting  in  a  general  request  for  a  soon  Convocation — not 
that  this  may  now  sit  for  despatch  of  business,  which  is 
thought,  by  most,  premature."  His  final  view  on  the 
matter  is  well  expressed  in  his  article  in  the  Quarterly 
Rtviciu  on  "  The  Church  of  England  and  her  Bishops  "  ; 
and  the  passage  in  question  will  lead  on  naturally  to  a 
short  explanation  of  the  methods  by  which  Bishop 
"Wilberforce  laboured  to  give  his  ideas  effect.  It  runs 
thus — "  Far-sighted  men  had,  with  more  or  less 
clearness,  foreseen  for  years  that  under  the  changed 
aspect  of  the  times,  the  restoration  of  .synodal  action 
was  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  They  saw 
that  the  absence  of  free  discussion  between  clergymen, 
under  the  restraints  of  that  sense  of  responsibility  which 


THE  EEVIYAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


115 


is  ever  bred  by  the  consciousness  of  being  met  in  a 
'  lawful  assembly,'  had  already  led  to  the  prevalence  of 
far  more  unrestrained  discussions,  under  no  authority, 
where  the  absence  of  all  duly  recognized  chiefs  gave 
to  those,  who  could  fill  it  with  least  advantage  to 
the  Church,  the  actual  position  of  the  guides  of  thought 
and  action  amongst  their  brethren.  Further,  they  saw 
that  tlie  time  was  come  when,  whether  to  resist  injurious 
changes,  the  imposition  of  which  might  be  attempted 
from  without,  or  so  to  mould  from  within  existingr 
institutions  as  to  make  them  equal  to  the  new  require- 
ments of  an  expanding  body,  the  clergy  must  be 
allowed  to  exercise  their  undoubted  right  of  formingf 
and  expressing  their  opinion  by  full  and  free  debate 
upon  all  suggested  changes  and  all  needful  improve- 
ments in  the  system  of  their  Church." 

Now,  before  this  only  method  of  making  constitu- 
tional changes  in  the  national  Church  could  be  once 
more  brought  into  play,  there  were  a  great  number  of 
prejudices  to  be  overcome.  There  existed  in  the  minds 
of  many  a  profound  distrust  of  the  synodal  action  of 
the  Church.  The  call  for  it  seemed,  to  the  nation 
generally,  to  be  an  outcome  of  the  much-dreaded 
Romanizing  tendency,  which  ordinary  Englishmen 
discerned  in  the  return  to  more  Catholic  principles  and 
methods,  that  began  in  the  Church  of  England  with  the 
Oxford  movement.  For  this  and  other  reasons  many  of 
the  members  of  Convocation  itself  were  inclined  to 
resist,  as  a  matter  of  conscience,  the  efforts  that  were 
made  to  make  its  meetings  no  longer  a  mere  formality. 
In  the  Upper  House  the  Archbishops  and  many  of  the 
bishops  were,  at  first,  much  more  disposed  to  hinder 
than  to  help  all  that  was  being  done,  and  were  ready  to 


116 


BISHOP  WILBEEFORCE. 


find  reasons  against  the  undertaking.  Their  order  had 
become  quite  unaccustomed  in  the  past  to  co-operate 
with  the  other  clergy;  and,  with  an  ignorance  of  the  real 
facts,  there  had  grown  iip  an  impression  that  the 
silencing  of  Convocation  had  freed  them  from  a  great 
deal  of  harassing  and  unpleasing  opposition,  which  they 
could  only  suppose  w^ould  begin  again  when  the  Church 
again  found  her  proper  voice.  Besides  this,  the  political 
aspect  of  the  movement  was  not  regarded  favourably. 
It  Avas  not  considered  by  the  Ministry  and  Government 
that,  after  all,  allowing  Convocation  to  proceed  again  to 
business  was  but  a  matter  of  justice,  according  only 
a  liberty  to  the  Church  which  was  freely  at  this  time 
given  to  other  religious  bodies  in  the  land.  The  aspect 
of  the  matter  which  w'as  most  regarded  was  that  it  gave 
to  the  Established  Church  a  position  of  independence,  as 
against  the  State,  which  the  traditions  of  the  past  were 
supposed  to  prove  to  be  of  necessity  dangerous.  In 
this  way  it  was  thought  and  urged  in  high  places  that 
the  proposed  revival  of  Convocation  was  likely  to 
interfere  with  the  royal  supremacy,  so  that  the  whole 
movement  was  regarded  with  marked  disfavour  at 
Court.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  confidence  had  to  be  won, 
and  prejudice  removed,  by  the  wise  and  cautious  use  of 
the  slowly  increased  opportunities,  charily  meted  out 
to  Conv'ocation  by  authorities  that,  Avhile  they  half 
scorned  it  and  its  proceedings,  wholly  mistrusted  both. 

By  1850  the  circumstances  of  the  Gorham  judgment, 
the  course  taken  by  the  Church  authorities  in  the 
ritual  difficulties  with  Mr.  Bennett,  and  the  course 
taken  by  some  of  the  Ministers  in  the  matters  con- 
nected W'ith  the  papal  aggressions,  brought  matters 
for  the  Church  to  a  crisis.    It  was  clear  that  if  a  great 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


117 


schism  was  to  be  avoided,  and  the  Anglican  Church  to 
remain  as  inclusive  as  her  constitution  means  her  to  be, 
some  regular  and  lawful  control  over  her  own  affairs 
must  be  given  to  her.  The  Church  Unions  already 
made  some  of  those  irresponsible  bodies  eager  to 
promote  discussions,  which  are,  as  Bishop  Wilberforce 
points  out  in  a  passage  quoted  above,  so  dangerous  from 
their  irresponsibility.  At  the  same  time,  there  had  now 
actually  come  into  existence  a  Society  for  the  Revival  of 
Convocation,  which  consisted  both  of  clergy  and  laity, 
and  gave  the  impetus  to  the  action  which  Bishop 
Wilberforce,  with  his  talents  and  wide  influence,  was 
conspicuous  in  bringing  to  a  successful  issue.  As  early 
as  1847  sometliing  had  been  done  in  Convocation.  Several 
amendments  to  the  usual  Address  to  the  Crown  had  been 
brought  forward  and  discussed  in  the  Lower  House  ; 
and  one,  containing  an  "  earnest  prayer"  that  her  Majesty 
would  require  the  advice  of  the  synod,  was  accepted  by 
the  Upper  House,  and  inserted  in  the  Address.^  This 
was  indeed  the  parvtda  radix  from  which,  in  Bishop 
Wilberforce' s  able  hands,  much  was  to  grow. 

His  first  important  action  in  the  matter  was  in  a 
debate  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  July  11th,  1851.  At 
the  instance  of  the  Society  for  the  Revival  of  Convoca- 
tion, a  petition  had  been  presented  to  the  Convocation  of 
Canterbury  from  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  province, 
praying  its  members  to  consider  the  question  of  the 
revival  of  their  activity.  A  motion  of  Lord  Redesdale's, 
asking  for  a  copy  of  this  petition,  brought  on  a  debate 
on  Convocation.  Lord  Redesdale  urged  that,  if  Convo- 
cation became  a  reality,  it  would  do  a  great  deal  to 
save  the  Church  from  the  danger  she  was  in,  owing 
*  Perry's  English  Church  History,  iii.  p.  296. 


118 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


to  the  strife  of  parties.  The  course  of  the  debate 
showed  two  things — firstly,  that  tlie  Primate  feared 
meetings  of  Convocation  for  business;  and  secondly, 
that  the  Government,  as  represented  by  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  was  unfavourable.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford  replied 
to  Lord  Lansdowne's  argument,  and  showed  that  the 
dangers  feared  were  unreal,  and  claimed  for  the  Church 
that  she  should  be  considered  to  have  a  divine 
character,  and  be  freely  allowed  to  exercise  her  ancient 
rights.  This  debate  did  much  to  further  the  cause  of 
Convocation,  and  to  remove  jDrejudicial  misunderstanding 
in  the  country  at  large. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  a  long  correspond- 
ence took  place  between  Bishop  Wilberforce  and  Mr. 
Gladstone,  and  ended  in  an  interview  between  them  at 
Cuddesdon.  It  was  this  that  determined  the  Bishop 
to  a  more  vigorous  effort  still  to  get  a  fuller  liberty  for 
Convocation.  Mr.  Gladstone,  as  a  layman  who  was  a 
strong  Churchman,  thought  that  late  events  had  shown 
the  bench  of  bishops  to  be  very  much  divided,  and  had 
also  shown  that,  while  they  could  not  unite  to  defend 
an  endangered  doctrine  of  the  Church,  they  could  unite 
to  check  certain  revivals  of  ceremonial,  which  were  known 
to  tend  as  a  whole  to  bring  our  worship  a  step  nearer 
to  that  of  the  Eastern  as  well  as  to  that  of  the  Roman 
Church.  He  said  that  it  appeared  to  him  that  "  both 
the  particular  question  of  Baptism  and  the  claim  of  the 
Church,  as  against  the  civil  power,  to  decide  or  inter- 
pret all  doctrine,  are,  in  the  views  of  the  episcopate  as 
a  body,  open  questions  properly  so  called."  On  the 
whole  it  seemed  to  him  that,  though  isolated  individuals 
amongst  the  English  bishops  did  stand  firm  to  the 
Church's  teaching,  yet  the  great  majority,  including 


THE  PvEVIYAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  110 

the  Archbishop,  seemed  utterly  indifferent  to  upholding 
any  dogmatic  teaching  in  the  Church.  The  Bishop  of 
Oxford  had  his  answer  in  the  political  considerations 
that  govern  appointments  to  the  episcopate ;  the  too 
great  readiness  of  men  at  large  to  accept  as  true  with- 
out inquiry  charges  against  the  bishops ;  and  the 
unreadiness  of  Churchmen  in  the  House  of  Commons 
to  give  explanations  on  their  behalf.  At  the  same  time 
his  subsequent  activity  in  the  matter  of  Convocation 
shows  plainly  what  was  in  his  opinion  the  true  and 
best  remedy. 

When  Convocation  met,  on  February  4th,  1852,  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  acting  on  the  lines  of  the  action  of 
1847,  proceeded  to  make  a  fresh  effort  to  waken  Con- 
vocation into  life.  The  opposition  offered  by  Sir  John 
Dodson,  the  Queen's  Advocate,  and  the  Archbishop's 
legal  adviser,  marks  out  the  next  stage  in  the  struggle. 
It  now  occurred  to  some  Churchmen,  and  notablv  to 
Bishop  Wilberforce,  that,  after  all,  the  legal  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  the  activity  of  Convocation  might  not  be 
so  great  and  insurmountable  as  was  supposed ;  it  was 
seen  to  be  quite  possible  that  ideas,  as  to  the  length  it 
could,  or  could  not,  go  without  royal  license  and  Govern- 
ment permission,  might  well  have  grown  up,  and  been 
acquiesced  in,  without  having  any  real  foundation  but 
custom.  The  Archbishop  had  prorogued  Convocation 
till  August  12th,  but  before  that  time  the  fall  of  the 
Government  caused  a  fresh  election  of  proctors,  and 
rumours,  without  foundation,  went  about  that  Lord 
Derby  and  his  colleagues,  who  had  just  come  into 
power,  meant  to  advise  the  Queen  to  let  Convocation, 
when  it  met  at  the  beginning  of  1852,  actually  sit  for 
the   despatch   of  business.    Now  the  legal  opinion. 


120 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


which  had  been  sought  and  given,  had  already  made  it 
clear  that  Lord  Derby's  intervention  was  not  required, 
and  no  further  license  from  the  Crown  either,  beyond 
what  was  contained  in  the  ordinary  writs,  which  issued 
as  a  matter  of  routine.  It  was  the  lawyers'  opinion, 
that  in  a  duly  summoned  and  convened  Convocation  no 
royal  license  was  necessary,  except  to  promulge  canons ; 
and  they  also  considered  it  almost  certain  that  the 
Archbishop  could  not  prorogue  proprio  inotu,  and  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  suffragans.^ 

Fortified  with  these  opinions,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
set  himself  to  do  all  he  could  to  make  the  next  meet- 
ings of  Convocation  a  real  step  in  advance.  In  the  then 
state  of  feeling  on  the  subject,  it  was  above  all  things 
necessary  that  all  should  be  harmonious ;  and  there 
were  several  points  in  which  collision  between  conflict- 
ing and  opposing  interests  was  to  be  feared.  In  the 
first  place,  it  was  likely  that  the  choice  of  a  prolocutor 
by  the  members  of  the  Lower  House  might  involve  a 
difficulty  with  the  Archbishop,  if  they  should  select  one 
unacceptable  to  him,  or  he  should  insist  on  naming  one 
unacceptable  to  them.  This  was  arranged  satisfactorily 
by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  using  his  influence  on  both 
sides,  and  the  following  short  letter  from  the  Archbishop 
to  Bishop  Wilberforce  indicates  the  result — "  My  dear 
Lord — Among  the  instructions  concerning  Convocation 
which  I  received,  it  was  said  that  the  Archbishop 
names  a  prolocutor.  After  advising  with  the  Bishops 
of  London  and  Winchester,  I  have  obtained  the  consent 
of  the  Dean  of  Ely  to  be  so  named.  But  I  have  no 
idea  of  disputing  the  question,  if  the  Lower  House  claim 
the  privilege  of  appointing  without  reference  to  the 
1  Perry's  English  Church  History,  iii.  p.  303. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


121 


Archbishop.  I  am  faithfully  and  affectionately  yours, 
J.  B.  Cantuar." 

Again,  the  nature  of  the  business  on  which  the  houses 
should  first  engage  had  to  be  judiciously  settled,  and 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  consulted  on  this  matter.  He 
pointed  out  the  inexpediency  of  asking  in  any  way  from 
the  Government  for  anything  that  the  Convocation 
might  after  all  be  quite  competent  to  arrange  for 
itself ;  and  suggested  that  a  joint  committee  of  the 
two  houses  was  a  better  way  than  a  royal  commission 
for  rearranarintr  the  constitution  of  Convocation.  There 

o  o 

were,  moreover,  symptoms  of  dangerous  questions,  such 
as  that  of  education,  being  introduced;  and  there 
was  a  fear  that  the  Archbishop's  power,  or  claim  of 
power,  of  proroguing,  might  prove  a  fatal  bar  to  courses 
that  might  otherwise  have  been  safe  and  wise.  All 
these  difficulties  were,  however,  overcome,  largely  by 
Bishop  Wilberforce's  intervention,  who,  to  quote  from 
the  second  volume  of  his  Life,  "  by  arguments  and  by 
persuasion,  induced  the  Archbishop  to  declare  that  no 
petitions  should  be  presented  that  did  not  bear  on 
Convocation  itself."  How  critical  was  the  moment, 
and  how  much  might  be  lost  by  a  false  step,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  a  meeting  held  at  this  time 
at  Fishmongers'  Hall,  presided  over  by  Lord  Sliaftesbury, 
denounced  all  attempts  to  revive  Convocation,  and  once 
more  maintained  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  it  to 
meet  and  be  at  all  peaceable. 

On  November  5th,  1852,  the  Convocation  met  at  St. 
Paul's,  and  was  then  prorogued  till  November  12th. 
When  it  met  again  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  proceedings.  He  expressed  his  opinion 
that,  in  days  like  those  in  which  discussion  could  not  be 


122 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


stopped,  it  was  better  to  do  that  regularly  which  would 
otherwise  be  done  irregularly — it  was  better  to  call  up 
the  proper  conciliar  action  of  the  Church,  than  to 
permit  mere  popular  agitation.  He  then  proposed  an 
amendment  to  the  draft  of  the  Address  to  the  Crown 
proposed  by  the  President,  but  withdrew  this  in  favour 
of  an  amendment,  moved  by  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury, 
which  set  forth  that  the  resumption  of  active  functions 
by  the  legislative  assemblies  of  the  Church,  if  granted 
by  her  Majesty  at  no  distant  date,  would  be  productive 
of  much  advantage.  On  tlie  motion  of  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  there  was  also  added  to  the  address  a  protest 
against  the  late  fresh  aggression  of  the  See  of  Rome, 
which  amounted  to  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  that 
branch  of  the  Catholic  Church  which  had  been  so  long 
established  in  England.  He  also  moved  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Committee  to  consider  the  subject  of  clergy 
discipline,  which  was  agreed  to ;  and  members  of  the 
Lower  House  were  added  to  serve  on  it  conjointly  Avith 
the  Bishops,  and  instructions  given  to  the  committee  to 
draft  a  petition.^  After  three  sessions  had  been  held, 
the  Arclibishop  prorogued  Convocation  to  February  16th, 
1853,  though  a  protest  was  made  against  this,  as  done 
without  the  consent  of  his  suffragans,  by  the  Bishops  of 
Oxford,  Salisbury,  Chichester,  and  St.  David's.  Thus  the 
action  of  Convocation  was,  in  a  great  measure,  restored 
after  some  hundred  and  forty  years,  during  which,  owing 
largely  to  the  ignorance  and  indifference  of  the  clergy, 
it  had  done  nothing,  and  been  practically  dead.  Govern- 
ment was  as  yet,  however,  not  inclined  to  sanction  its 
revival  as  a  Church  Parliament.  The  idea  pi'evailed 
that  the  Church  and  its  affairs  could,  and  should,  be 
1  Perry,  English  CJmrch  History,  iii.  p.  305. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  123 


managed  by  the  Parliament  of  the  country,  and  it  was 
not  recognized  how  unjust  and  undesirable  this  had 
become,  in  the  changes  that  had  of  late  years  rightly 
given  Nonconformists  their  proper  place  in  the  legis- 
lative assemblies  of  England.  After  the  so  far  successful 
efforts  of  1852,  there  was  danger  that  much  might  have 
been  lost  by  the  premature  jubilations  of  injudicious 
friends;  and  Bishop  Wilberforce  did  good  service  by 
keeping  such  from  proclaiming  their  triumph  in  the 
newspapers.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother,  the  Bishop 
explains  how  the  marvellous  silence  of  John  Bull,  the 
Guardian,  and  the  Horning  Chronicle  was  due  to  him, 
and  was  intended  "  to  keep  all  aslee})  as  long  as  they 
could  act." 

At  the  end  of  1852  Lord  Aberdeen  came  into  power. 
He  had  a  great  admiration  for  Bishop  Wilberforce,  and 
once  said  of  him  that  he  ought  not  to  have  been  a 
Bishop,  but  Chancellor  in  his  administration.  This, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  voice  and 
influence  in  the  House  of  Lords  were  of  importance  to 
the  Government,  gave  him  new  and  larger  opportunities 
for  pressing  the  revival  of  Convocation,  which  was  then 
so  vital  to  the  interests  of  the  Church.  The  Bishop's 
letters  show  that  he  accepted  the  political  situation  as 
a  real  opportunity  for  improving  greatly  the  position 
in  matters  ecclesiastical,  as  those  well-disposed  to  the 
Church  were  in  power, — "  the  popishly  inclined  Puseyite- 
Presbyterian,"  as  the  Record  called  Lord  Aberdeen,  being 
head.  At  the  same  time  the  path  of  progress  was 
difficult.  The  Low  Church  dread  of  Convocation  showed 
itself  in  many  ways,  and,  under  the  pressure  of  it,  Lord 
Aberdeen's  first  views  about  Convocation  were,  as  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford  expresses  it,  "utterly  dispiriting." 


124 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


He  bad  said  to  his  son,  "  I  can't  allow  tliem  to  sit " ; 
and  liad  added,  as  his  utmost  possible  concession — 
"Very  well;  they  may  talk  till  midnight  on  the  16th, 
if  they  like,  and  pass  the  Address  if  they  can,  but  they 
must  not  adjourn  again.  As  it  is,  already,  I  have  had 
great  difficulty  in  keeping  down  a  clerical  oioposition, 
and  have  only  succeeded  by  saying  that  Convocation 
would  be  content  with  one  more  meeting." 

In  the  course  of  January  1853,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
had  an  interview  with  the  Prime  Minister,  from  which  it 
became  clear  that,  though  he  himself  meant  well  and 
fairly,  he  was  much  hampered  by  his  Cabinet.  Lord 
Aberdeen's  ideas  were  in  favour  of  doing  if  possible  as 
had  been  done  for  the  past  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
Bills,  he  said,  might  be  brought  in  in  the  House  of 
Lords  by  bishops,  and  if  they  thought  the  assent  of  the 
clergy  requisite,  they  might  be  far  better  represented 
than  in  Convocation  by  an  informal  meeting  of  delegates. 
To  him  it  seemed  a  mistake  to  stir  up  quiet  waters ;  he 
did  not  understand,  as  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  did,  that 
the  waters  were  not  quiet,  and  that,  in  the  growth  of 
Church  feeling,  the  bishops,  in  their  somewhat  divided 
councils,  and  want  of  sympathy  in  many  cases  with  the 
reviving  Church  spirit,  had  not  the  power  to  calm 
them  and  keep  them  still.  Knowing  that  any  arbitrary 
prorogation  now,  or  unconstitutional  repression,  would 
cause  a  disruption  iu  the  Church,  the  Bishop  wisely  set 
himself  to  do  all  he  could  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
Lord  Aberdeen's  other  suggestion,  that  nothing  should 
be  done,  even  by  prolonging  the  Session  over  one 
day,  to  hinder  the  step  already  made  being  brought  to  a 
safe  and  prosperous  conclusion.  He  had  been  warned 
that  there  was  a  great  hankering  for  a  Crown  proroga- 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


125 


tion,  if  not  dissolution,  even  before  the  16th,  and  under 
the  circumstances,  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  to  get  him 
to  call  together  the  Committee  of  Bishops,  at  the 
earliest  possible  day,  to  meet  the  Committee  of  the 
Lower  House,  and  try  to  arrange  heads  of  a  Bill,  which 
might  (according  to  a  suggestion  of  Lord  Aberdeen) 
be  brought  into  Parliament  on  the  subjects  referred  to 
Committees  at  the  last  Session  of  Convocation.  On 
January  19th  he  was  at  Windsor,  and  tried  to  secure 
with  the  highest  authorities  a  more  favourable  view  of 
the  whole  question,  as  the  Convocation  movement  was 
much  misunderstood  and  misrepresented  at  Court. 
His  diary  for  January  19th  runs  as  follows — "  Long  talk 
with  the  Prince  in  his  room  on  Convocation.  Tried  to 
set  plainly  before  him  our  needs,  and  internal  action 
our  only  remedy.  He  spoke  as  always,  kindly  and 
plainly,  and  paid  great  attention  to  my  view."  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  it  was  not  accepted  at  present  by 
the  Crown  that  meetings  of  Convocation  could  do 
anything  else  but  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Church. 
Mr.  Gordon's  account  of  a  discussion  of  the  matter  at 
Windsor  is  given  in  the  second  volume  of  Bishop 
WilberfoTce's  Life ; '  and  it  was  suggested  that  the 
movement  might  be  made  to  die  a  natural  death  if  the 
most  active  advocates  of  it  were  permanently  excluded 
from  preferment.  The  history  of  the  past  shows  dis- 
astrous results  from  attempts  to  govern  the  Church  by 
patronage ;  and  it  is  matter  for  thankfulness  that,  in 
the  present  reign,  men  of  all  views  and  parties  have 
been  equally  placed  in  the  highest  positions.  Thus  has 
been  secured  that  balancing  and  moderating  force 
which,  even  in  the  obtaining  of  such  an  undoubted 
'  Life,  ii.  pp.  168-9. 


12G 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


advantage  as  a  real  and  not  merely  formal  Convocation, 
needs  to  be  considered. 

Meanwhile  there  was  some  talk  of  Lord  Aberdeen's 
Government  issuing  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the 
working  and  constitution  of  Convocation,  and  to  suggest 
improvements.  This  commission  was,  however,  never 
appointed,  but  Bishop  Wilberforce's  exertions  before, 
and  at  the  time,  secured  that  no  attempt  was  made  to 
extend  the  meeting  of  Convocation  beyond  the  one  day 
on  w^hich  it  assembled,  February  16th,  18-53.  It  was 
then  prorogued  till  August  16th,  after  voting  the 
Address  and,  amongst  other  things,  receiving  a  report  on 
Church  Discipline  from  the  committee  of  the  Upper 
House  appointed  in  the  previous  session.  At  the  time 
of  prorogation  the  Lower  House  was  in  the  middle  of 
a  debate  as  to  what  was  best  to  be  done  in  the  matter 
of  a  committee  on  the  Representation  of  Grievances, 
which  had  been  appointed,  but  had  been  hindered  from 
completing  its  work.  The  abrupt  ending  of  the  ses- 
sion brought  next  day  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop  from 
Archdeacon  Denison,  which  contained  the  following 
passage — "  I  venture  to  implore  your  Grace,  humbly, 
respectfully,  most  earnestly,  not  to  permit  for  the  time 
to  come  that  the  Convocation  of  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury may  be  convened  for  a  few  hours  ouly  of  a  single 
day,  lest  its  very  assembling  at  all  degenerate  once 
more  into  that  which  it  has  presented  to  the  world  for 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years — into  an  idle  and 
empty  parade  and  form,  to  the  great  discredit  of  the 
Church,  the  gradual  undermining  of  her  efficiency,  and 
the  impairing  of  her  life." 

In  April  1853  Lord  Aberdeen  asked  Bishop  Wilber- 
force  to  say  what  definite  objects  ought,  in  his  opinion, 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  '  127 

to  engage  the  attention  of  the  proposed  Commission  on 
Convocation,  if  it  met.  His  answer  indicates  clearly  his 
exact  views  on  the  matter  at  this  time.  There  was,  he 
felt,  a  widespread  belief  that  the  Church  at  that  time 
required  the  power  of  internal  action  in  order  to  adapt 
her  machinery  and  organization  to  the  wants  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time.  There  was  also  a  widespread 
belief  that  the  Church  was,  "  quite  competent,  as  to  pru- 
dence, knowledge,  and  other  qualifications,  to  discuss 
these  subjects  with  every  reasonable  expectation  of  reach- 
ing conclusions  which  would  heal  hearts,  unite  separated 
parties,  and  strengthen  what  remains."  An  inquiry  by 
a  fairly  constituted  commission  would,  he  said,  clear,  or 
tend  to  clear,  the  following  questions  :  («)  Are  there 
matters  which  for  the  quiet  and  strength  of  the  Church 
need  its  own  internal  action  ?  (J>)  Is  the  present  con- 
stitution of  the  Church's  synod  such  as  to  make  it  really 
fit  for  dealing  with  them  ?  (c)  If  not,  could  its  con- 
stitution be  so  altered  as  to  make  it  fit  ?  (d)  What 
changes  should  be  recommended  for  its  consideration 
and  adoption  ?  ^  The  Bishop  had  intended  to  make  an 
effort  to  proceed  to  business  when  the  prorogued  Con- 
vocation met  again  in  August ;  but  the  Archbishop  was 
set  against  it,  and  plainly  told  him  that  Convocation 
would  continue  to  be  one  of  the  subjects  on  which  their 
views  did  not  coincide,  as  long  as  Bishop  Wilberforce 
desired  its  revival,  and  he  opposed  it.  On  an  explana- 
tion that  the  Archbishop  did  not  mean  by  this  that  he 
would  necessarily  resist  the  wishes  of  his  suffragans  in 
this  matter  for  the  future,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in 
deference  to  his  wishes,  decided  to  keep  silence,  and  not, 
on  this  occasion,  to  oppose  or  hinder  the  prorogation. 
1  Life,  ii.  p.  183. 


128 


BISFIOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Perhaps  tlie  fret  and  worry  of  all  these  small  negotia- 
tions, and  the  unpopularity  and  annoyance  they  involved, 
were  more  trying  than  a  more  open  and  public  struggle, 
and  due  account  must  assuredly  be  taken  of  them  in 
considering  Bishop  Wilberforce's  greatest  service  to  the 
Church.  He  was  really  almost  the  only  person  who 
could  have  carried  them  on,  from  his  acquaintance  with 
all  the  leading  personages  of  the  day ;  and  his  per- 
severance in  them  certainly  spoiled  the  pleasure  and 
confidence  of  many  intimacies  which  he  valued  very 
highly. 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  Bishop's  efforts 
to  make  Convocation  in  1854  even  a  greater  reality 
were  very  trying,  and  he  writes  of  himself — "  Much  cast 
down  in  view  of  Convocation  difficulties."  The  Low 
Church  party  were  more  alarmed  than  ever,  and  felt  it 
their  duty,  through  Lord  J.  Russell,  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
and  Dean  Elliott,  to  do  all  they  could  with  Lord  Aber- 
deen and  the  Archbishop  to  prevent  any  more  successful 
advances.  At  one  time  the  Archbishop  was  nearly 
persuaded  to  prorogue,  not  by  his  own  authority,  but  by 
a  prepared  form  of  royal  exoneration.  But  at  last  all 
went  well,  and  the  settlement  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
made  with  Lord  Aberdeen  on  January  4th  was  acted 
upon.  The  Bishop's  diary  records  the  somewhat  amusing 
circumstance  that,  while  he  was  actually  in  Lord 
Aberdeen's  house  on  this  occasion,  a  note  arrived  from 
the  Primate,  "  fishing  for  a  Government  interruption," 
and  that  he  and  Lord  Aberdeen  together  settled  the 
answer  to  it.  It  was  also  agreel  between  them  that 
there  would  be  "  no  hindrance  to  one  day's  business,  or, 
if  need  be,  to  a  second."  The  diary  for  February  1st 
records  the  success  of  this  meeting,  with  expressions  of 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


129 


thankfulness — "  To  Convocation,  where  nearly  all  day, 
and  D.  G.  most  marvellously  succeeded,  the  Bishops, 
who  heretofore  had  been  our  chief  opposers,  moving  and 
seconding  our  motions.  God  be  praised,  whose  work  I 
believe  it  is."  An  important  part  of  these  proceedings 
was  the  appointment  of  a  first  committee  of  both  Houses, 
to  consider  what  steps  ought  to  be  taken  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  constitution  of  Convocation.  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  supporting  the  motion  for  this  com- 
mittee, explained  how  the  enemies  of  Convocation  found 
an  argument  against  it  in  the  fact  that,  from  its  peculiar 
constitution,  it  could  not  be  taken  in  any  way  to  repre- 
sent the  mind  of  the  Church.  The  same  circumstance 
was  also  unsatisfactory  to  its  friends  ;  and  as  the  increase 
of  population,  and  alteration  of  the  laws  and  phases  of 
society,  made  some  internal  action  of  the  Church  need- 
ful, a  more  perfect  representation  of  the  Church  in 
Convocation  was  desirable,  "  though,"  said  the  Bishop, 
"  they  did  not  desire  the  Crown  to  send  its  licence  for 
any  other  reform  than  the  reform  of  Convocation." 
Bishop  Wilberforce's  diary  for  February  2nd  records 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  expressed  to  him  very  strongly  his 
content  with  the  doings  in  Convocation  on  this  occasion. 
From  the  same  source  we  learn  shortly  what  was  the 
result  of  the  next  meeting  on  July  20th — "  To  Con- 
vocation ;  all  passed  most  amicably.  The  Archbishop's 
opposition  appears  to  be  very  greatly  modified,  but  his 
extreme  gentleness  makes  it  difficult  to  be  sure  of  his 
inner  feelings."  At  this  session  the  report  on  Con- 
vocation reform  was  presented,  and  suggestions  for 
making  it  more  representative  of  all  the  clergy  were 
made.  The  question  as  to  how  effect  should  be  given 
to  these  recommendations  was  found  a  very  difficult 


130 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCK. 


one.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  as  we  have  seen,  thought 
that  a  Royal  Commission  might  be  helpful  in  the 
matter.  Others  thought  that  Convocation  had  best 
proceed  to  its  own  reform,  and  Sir  Richard  Bethell  and 
Dr.  Phillimore,  on  being  consulted,  gave  it  as  their 
opinion  that  it  would  be  competent  for  Convocation, 
having  obtained  the  licence  of  the  Crown,  to  discuss  the 
question  of  the  alteration  of  their  representative  body, 
and  to  make  a  canon  enlarging  it,  on  which  they  could 
act,  after  obtaining  the  approbation  of  the  canon  by  the 
Crown.    At  present  the  matter  rests  here. 

In  1855  Convocation  entered  as  it  were  upon  quite  a 
new  lease  of  life.  Tiie  Archbishop  spontaneously  asked 
Lord  Aberdeen  in  January  for  prolonged  sittings,  and 
urged  that  there  were  many  things,  as  for  instance  the 
division  of  services,  to  which  the  clergy  would  pay 
more  general  attention  if  recommended  by  Convocation 
than  if  recommended  by  the  bishops.  Lord  Aberdeen 
secured  a  letter  from  the  Archbishop  to  tins  effect,  a  step 
which  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  urged  as  important  lest  he 
should  change.  In  his  diary  he  records  his  great  relief 
at  such  an  unexpected  turn  of  events — "  I  feel  as  if  the 
stone  we  had  so  hardly  rolled  up  the  hill  were 
beginning  to  roll  over.    May  God  direct  it  aright." 

The  prolocutor  of  tlie  Lower  House,  at  the  request  of 
Bishop  Blomfield  and  Bishop  Wilberforce,  also  wrote  to 
Lord  Aberdeen,  requesting  two  or  three  days  for  dis- 
cussion, adding  an  assurance  that  he  Avould  have  the 
support  of  a  large  majority  of  the  house  in  excluding 
topics  of  an  obnoxious  and  personal  character.  Before 
Convocation  met  Lord  Aberdeen's  Government  had 
fallen,  and  the  Bishop's  view  of  the  situation  is  a 
gloomy  one.    He  writes  thus — "For  Church  matters 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  131 


how  dark  a  prospect !  The  only  Government  which 
could,  or  was  minded  to,  be  fair  to  the  Church  overthrown, 
because  six  miles  of  road  not  made  from  Balaklava  to 
Sebastopol ! "  Lord  Aberdeen's  statement  as  to  the 
views  of  his  successor,  Lord  Palmerston,  on  the  Con- 
vocation question  was — "He  will  do  whatever  is 
popular.  He  has  no  feelings  of  his  own  on  the  subject." 

When  Convocation  met  on  Feb.  8th,  the  three  days 
were  more  than  filled  up  by  discussions  on  the  com- 
mittee's reports.  A  debate  took  place  in  the  Upper 
House  on  the  alteration  of  Church  services,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford  carried  a  motion  that  the  rubrics 
might  properly  be  altered,  and  changes  made  in  the 
Lectionary.  A  new  departure  on  this  occasion  was 
made  by  referring  resolutions  of  the  Upper  House  to 
the  Lower  House  for  consideration,  and  its  opinion 
was  found  to  be  unfavourable  to  altering  rubrics,  or 
changing  the  Lectionary.  The  proceedings  in  the 
Lower  House  were  attended  with  some  difficulty  and 
confusion,  many  maintaining  that,  till  they  were  re- 
formed, they  were  not  competent  to  discuss  matters 
sent  down  to  them.  As  regards  the  question  of  reform, 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  had  moved  that  it  was  not 
expedient  at  present  to  attempt  any  change  in  the 
constitution  of  Convocation.  He  had  been  induced, 
partly  by  Mr.  Gladstone's  representations,  to  look  un- 
favourably, after  all,  on  a  Royal  Commission,  as  likely 
to  put  the  whole  question  into  the  hands  of  Parliament, 
whereas  Convocation  had  a  status  independent  of 
Parliament. 

When  the  Houses  of  Convocation  met  again  on  June 
28th,  fortified  by  legal  opinions,  they  agreed  to  take  the 
very  important  step  of  asking  the  Crown  for  licence  to 


132 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


consider  changes  in  their  constitution,  which  might  be 
referred  again  for  the  royal  approval  and  consent. 
This  was  refused,  and  Bishop  Wilberforce  used  his 
influence,  both  in  Convocation  itself  and  outside  it,  to 
induce  the  members  of  the  two  Houses  to  do  what  they 
could,  witli  their  existing  powers,  and  in  their  unre- 
fonned  condition.  The  following  note  of  a  conversation 
with  the  Archbishop  in  Oct.  1855,  shows  what  was  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford's  idea  as  to  the  right  and  best  line 
for  Convocation  under  the  circumstances — "  He  (the 
Archbishop)  assents  to  my  view  that,  having  done  what 
we  can  to  get  our  instrument  perfected,  Ave  must  use 
the  present,  and  that  time  for  full  discussion  is  the 
requisite."  At  the  same  time  the  Archbishop  agreed 
to  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation  sitting,  unless 
disturbed  by  Government,  as  long  as  was  needed  for  the 
discussion  of  the  adaptation  of  the  Church  to  present 
wants.  Before  the  Session  of  Feb.  1856,  the  Bishop 
had  some  further  correspondence  with  Mr.  Gladstone, 
who  advised  not  more  than  a  three  days'  sitting,  lest 
Government  should  interfere,  and  any  of  the  Church  of 
England's  slender  chances  be  jeopardized  by  misuse. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  business  on  this  occasion  lasted  but 
a  single  day,  though  many  notices  of  motion  promised 
no  lack  of  business  for  the  Session  to  be  held  in  April 
of  the  same  year.  On  this  occasion  the  synod  of  the 
Southern  Province  was  allowed  to  proceed  in  its  work 
unchecked,  and  the  proceedings  of  both  Houses  were 
now  fully  reported  in  the  Journal  of  Convocation.  In 
his  charge  for  1857  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  speaks 
thus  of  the  work  that  had  been,  so  far,  successfully 
accomplished,  and  steered  by  his  wisdom  and  courage 
through  many  difficulties  into  comparative  safety — "The 


THE  EEVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


133 


two  Houses  of  Convocation  of  the  province  have,  as  you 
are  aware,  continued  their  sittings  with  regularity,  and 
their  consultations  with  increasing  interest,  during 
these  three  years;  and  I  cannot  but  recommend  you  to 
make  yourselves  familiar  with  the  publislied  journal  of 
their  proceedings,  and  especially  with  the  reports  of 
their  committees,  some  of  which  have  dealt,  with  no 
little  wisdom,  with  most  important  practical  questions." 

Thus  the  Convocation  of  the  Southern  Province,  and 
by  degrees  also  the  Convocation  of  the  Northern 
Province,  woke  up  gradually  into  life.  Bishop  Wilber- 
force  continued  as  he  had  beofuu,  and  watched  and  cruided 
anxiously  all  the  early  steps  of  the  Convocation  of  the 
Southern  Province.  One  of  the  means  that  he  used 
most  successfully  was  what  he  called  his  "  Convocatioa 
breakfasts,"  which  aimed  at  directing  to  order,  wisdom, 
and  amity  the  discussions  of  the  Lower  House.  The 
following  account  of  them  is  taken  from  the  second 
volume  of  his  Life.  On  the  mornings  when  Convocation 
was  in  Session  the  Bishop  gathered  to  his  house  for 
breakfast  the  leading  men  of  the  Lower  House. 
Breakfast  over,  the  Bishop  would  bring  forward  the 
subject  that  was  for  discussion  in  the  Lower  House  that 
day,  and  call  upon  one  of  those  present  to  give  his 
views ;  others  followed,  and  the  discussion  ended  by  the 
Bishop  summing  up.  By  this  means,  questions  which 
in  the  early  days  of  Convocation  might  have  created 
very  serious  divisions  were  toned  down. 

In  1860  licence  was  asked  for,  and  obtained  from,  the 
Crown  to  alter  the  29th  canon,  which  had  prohibited 
parents  from  becoming  sponsors  for  their  children. 
The  Bishop  of  Oxford  on  this  occasion  expatiated  on 
the  harm  that  was  done  to  the  now  living  and  active 


134 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


Church  by  tlie  present  condition  of  the  canons ;  and  the 
licence  obtained  on  this  occasion  opened  up  quite  a  new 
field  of  helpfulness  for  the  Church  through  her  Convo- 
cations. The  Bishop,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone, 
explains  the  movement  in  these  words — "  We  have 
agreed  unanimousltj  to  an  Address  to  the  Queen 
praying  for  her  licence  to  make  this  canon,  which  will 
then  be  submitted  for  her  assent.  That  is  all  a  canon 
needs.  There  is  no  going  to  Parliament.  .  .  .  The 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  has  unanimously  agreed 
to  our  Address.  Now  to  refuse  this  would  be  really 
unconstitutional  in  the  highest  degree.  The  clergy 
submitted  to  this  limiting  of  their  previous  right  to  free 
discussions  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  on  the  implied 
condition  that  they  should  receive  this  licence  when 
they  prayed  for  it."  In  the  same  way  in  1865  the 
canons  relating  to  subscription  were  altered  in  accord- 
ance with  the  recommendations  made  by  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Clerical  Subscription. 

In  this,  and  in  many  other  ways — sometimes  by 
suggestions  and  discussions,  sometimes  by  initiatitig 
desirable  changes,  and  sometimes  by  giving  an  authori- 
tative declaration  to  Churchmen  on  matters  of  faith — 
has  Convocation,  though,  even  to'  this  day,  unreformed 
in  constitution,  done  great  service  to  the  Church. 
Many  laboured  to  secure  this  end,  but  it  was  given  to 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  in  an  eminent  degree  to  be  the 
instrument  whereby  these  labours  were  brought  on  to 
success.  His  tact  and  influence  guided  Convocation 
through  the  many  dangers  of  its  new  beginning;  his 
wisdom  and  eloquence  gave  weight  and  dignity  to  its 
debates.  It  was  he  who,  with  patient  persistency, 
procured  the  synodical  condemnation  of  Essays  and 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION.  135 


Reviews;  it  was  he  who  defended  the  action  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy  on  this  occasion,  when  it  Avas 
questioned  by  Lcird  Houghton  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  even  sneered  at  by  the  Lord  Chancellor;  it  was  he 
who  explained  to  that  august  assembly  how  that  voice 
of  condemnation  had  quieted  men's  minds,  and  sent 
them  back  to  their  ordinary  duties,  "  without  being 
stirred  up  by  the  feeling  that  their  Church  was  resting 
under  an  imputation  of  having  allowed  to  pass  uncon- 
tradicted false  doctrine  promulgated  by  her  teachers." 
Here  then,  as  in  many  matters,  Bishop  Wilberforce 
had  prevailed  to  secure  that  peace  for  the  Church, 
without  which  she  cannot  justify  her  existence  by  the 
due  performance  of  her  work. 

So  much  space  has  been  given  here  to  the  stages  by 
which  Convocation  awoke  after  its  "  long  hybernation," 
as  Bishop  Wilberforce,  out  of  his  love  for  natural  histor}', 
was  led  to  call  it,  because  his  share  in  them  was  the 
centre  of  his  episcopal  work.  The  revived  Convocation 
has  been  since  a  safety-valve,  by  whose  operation  many 
threatening  dangers  to  the  Anglican  Church  have  passed 
away  without  hindering  or  damaging  the  right  working 
of  the  organization,  which  belongs  to  the  Church  from 
primitive  and  apostolic  times.  There  are  still  many 
imperfections,  it  is  true,  in  its  constitution ;  there  is 
still  much  for  it  to  gain  in  authority,  and  perhajjs 
liberty,  as  against  the  State.  But  nieanwlale  it  is 
really  a  voice  of  the  Cliurch,  and  Churchmen  are 
content  that  it  should  speak  to,  and  for,  them.  So  it 
has  helped  not  a  little  to  find  a  modus  vivcndi  for 
differences  of  view  and  opinion,  which,  when  Bishojj 
Wilberforce's  episcopate  began,  were  not  at  all  inclined 
to  dwell  together  in  the  Established  Church  of  England, 


136 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


but  rather  felt  it  a  sacred  duty  to  cast  one  another  out 
by  a  rigidly  enforced  uniformity  fashioned  on  the  model 
of  each  party's  own  peculiar  point  of  view. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  just  discussed,  it  is 
natural  to  say  .a  few  words  on  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
attitude  to  another  difficulty  that  caused  much  dissatis- 
faction to  Cliurchmen  at  the  time  that  the  agitation 
for  a  real  Convocation  first  began.  While,  after  the 
Reform  Bill  of  1832,  changes  were  being  made  in  the 
constitution  of  the  country  which  gradually  removed 
disabilities  under  which  many  had  hitherto  lain,  either 
from  their  creed  or  their  class,  the  bearing  of  these 
changes  on  the  liberties  of  the  Established  Church,  and 
its  members,  was  not  sufficiently  realized  or  regarded. 
Tiie  relations  tluit  the  Church  of  England  had  entered 
into  with  the  State  were  such  that  difficulties  arose 
at  once,  when  men  entered  Parliament  and  held  the 
highest  offices  in  the  land,  who  rightly  enough  in  many 
cases  felt  conscientious!}^  bound  to  oppose  the  Church, 
and  who  could  in  no  case  have  a  real  sympathy  with 
her  views  and  aims,  and  must  necessarily  regard  as  at 
least  indifferent  that  which  she  regarded  as  vital 
and  essential.  To  them  the  Church  was,  as  she  had 
consented  of  late  to  be,  and  desired  to  be,  a  department 
of  the  State,  and  they  could  have  little  or  no  under- 
standing of  her  unwillingness  to  subject  herself  iu 
spiritual  things,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  the  ordinary 
tribunals,  and  to  State  control. 

While  Convocation  was  silent,  and  the  Church 
asleep,  cases  of  burning  interest  involving  questions  of 
doctrine  did  not  come  up  for  decision  before  the  Courts 
that  had  jurisdiction  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  Church- 
men wore  content  to  leave  things  alone,  and  laxity 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


137 


of  docti'ine,  as  laxity  of  life,  and  carelessness  in  duty, 
were  allowed  to  exist  among  the  clergy,  unquestioned 
and  unrebuked.  With  the  reassertion  of  the  Catholic 
character  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  followed  the 
Oxford  movement,  it  was  only  right  that  those,  who  saw 
in  that  which  was  put  forward  nothing  but  an  attempt  to 
deprotestantize  the  Church,  should  put  in  motion  every 
force  available  to  check  what  they  considered  so  highly 
dangerous  to  all  they  held  most  dear.  Thus  prosecu- 
tions in  the  Church  courts  became  common,  and  ques- 
tions were  raised  before  them,  that  in  the  years  since 
the  Reformation  no  one  had  ever  thought  of  agitating. 
The  Gorham  judgment  made  the  members  of  the  High 
Church  party  realize  how  very  unsatisfactory  the  com- 
position of  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council 
was,  as  giving  a  final  decision  on  Church  questions 
which  came  before  it.  It  illustrates  the  extent  to  which 
it  was  thought  unlikely  that  any  vital  Church  questions 
could  come  before  it,  that  we  have  it  on  Lord  Brougham's 
authority  that,  ia  the  steps  that  transferred  the  appeal 
in  ecclesiastical  causes  from  the  old  Court  of  Delegates 
to  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  it  was 
not  realized  that  such  causes  were  likely  to  be  heard 
in  it.^  What  was  then  done  caused  a  civil  court, 
entirely  devoid  of  any  spiritual  jurisdiction,  to  be 
appointed  to  try  ecclesiastical  causes.  It  was  quite 
possible  that  all  who  sat  on  this  committee  might  be 
Dissenters,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  that  some,  or 
even  the  majority,  should  not  be.  Bishop  Wilberforce 
gave  much  thought  and  labour  to  obviating  the  diffi- 
culties that  'iiimt  arise,  and    the  disruption  in  the 

1  The  Church  in  Eiujla  11(1  from  William  III.  to  Victoria,  Hore, 
ii.  pp.  344-5. 


138 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Church  that  might  arise,  from  this  state  of  things.  It 
had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  some  of  those  secessions  to 
Rome  in  his  own  family  which  caused  him  so  much 
pain ;  and  it  was  a  subject  anxiously  discussed  with 
Mr.  Gladstone. 

Though  a  Royal  Commission  has  since  met  and  reported 
on  this  important  matter,  nothing  has  as  yet  been  done; 
and  Bishop  Wilberforce  had  in  his  time,  as  in  the  matter 
of  Convocation,  to  do  all  he  could  to  minimize  the  evils 
that  might  arise  from  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of 
things.  He  was  first  of  all  anxious  to  prevent  questions 
that  might  involve  doctrines  from  getting  into  the 
Courts.  As  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Allies  he  was  ready,  as 
a  last  resort,  to  prosecute,  but  he  aimed  at  getting  men 
to  accept,  if  they  would,  the  bishop's  authority  and  de- 
cision, and  to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  Church,  as  in 
his  dealings  with  Dr.  Pusey,  and  his  conduct  of  the  case 
of  Ditcher  against  Denison.  This  policy  of  his  was 
very  successful  in  his  own  diocese,  more  particularly  in 
troubles  about  Ritualism ;  it  caused  him  to  sign  the 
Declaration  of  the  Bishops,  when  the  difficulties  with 
Mr.  Bennett  first  arose,  and  it  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  write  as  follows  in  his  charge  for  1866 — "  No 
diocese,  perhaps,  from  various  causes,  has  risen  more 
than  that  of  Oxford  with  the  general  rise  of  Church 
devotion  ;  none  has  been  more  Iree  from  these  peculiar 
excesses." 

Again,  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  very  strong  in  insisting 
on  the  real  force  for  Churchmen  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Court  of  Appeal.  In  matters  of  ritual  he  was  ready  to 
defer  to  them,  as  being  herein  concerned  with  that  which 
was  expedient  rather  than  that  which  was  essential.  In 
his  charges  he  urged  the  observance  of  these  decisions  on 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  CONVOCATION. 


his  clergy,  and  altered  his  own  practice  into  conformity 
with  theni.^  Wlien,  as  in  the  Gorham  case,  the  judg- 
ments of  the  Court  seemed  to  involve  questions  of 
doctrines,  he  was  careful  to  explain  that  they  were  but 
legal  decisions  interpreting  the  exact  words  of  formu- 
laries in  reference  to  the  special  circumstances  of  an 
individual  case,  and  were  in  no  sense  authoritative 
utterances  of  the  Church.  He  has  set  this  out  very 
fully  in  his  review  in  the  Quarterly  of  "  Aids  to  Faith/' 
where  he  shows  how  Dr.  Lushington's  judgment  in 
the  matter  of  Essays  and  Revieivs  did  not  condemn  the 
errors  or  the  evils  of  the  document,  which  had  been 
brought  before  him,  but  simply  its  transgression  of  the 
law ;  and  that  he  was  maintaining,  not  truth,  but  the 
declaration  of  truth  contained  in  the  articles  and 
formularies  of  the  Established  Church.  In  the  matter 
of  Essays  and  Bcviews,  the  thing  for  Churchmen  to 
rest  upon  was  the  synodal  condemnation  of  the  book  by 
Convocation ;  and  in  his  efforts  for  the  revival  of  that 
assembly  the  Bishop  was  seeking  amongst  other  things 
a  solution  of  some  of  the  difficulties  that  grew  up  out 
of  the  thorny  question  of  Church  courts. 

Lastly,  Bishop  Wilberforce  did  not  rest  from  attempt- 
ing a  reform  of  the  Court  of  Appeal,  so  as  to  make  it 
more  satisfactory  to  Churchmen.  In  18.59  he  supported 
Bishop  Blomfield's  Bill,  which  provided  that  all  cases 
that  affected  doctrine  in  ecclesiastical  causes  should 
be  removed  from  the  Judicial  Committee  to  the  Upper 
House  of  Convocation.  "Puiely  spiritual  questions 
ought,"  he  said,  "  to  be  left  to  purely  spiritual  persons." 
This  Bill  was  lost,  and  in  1852  he,  at  Mr.  Gladstone's 
instigation,  tried  to  revive  it,  but  in  vain.  His  fiu'ther 
1  Charge,  1857,  pp.  50,  51. 


140 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


efforts  were  directed  to  getting  the  Archbishops  and 
the  Bishop  of  London  removed  from  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee altogether,  as  their  presence  there  made  a  really 
secular  court  seemingly  spiritual.  On  this  question 
he  expresses  himself  thus,  in  his  Qiuvrtcrly  article  on 
"  Aids  to  Faith " — "  The  mixture  of  the  spiritual 
element  with  the  temporal  in  that  Court  gives  to  it 
an  unfortunate  appearance  of  undertaking  to  decide 
what  is  the  true  doctrine,  instead  of  merely  giving 
a  legal  exposition  to  the  language  in  which  the  true 
doctrine  is  already  defined."  In  his  charge  for  186G 
the  Bishop  writes — "  The  grave  question  of  the  recon- 
stitution  of  the  Court  of  Final  Appeal  in  matters  of 
doctrine  remains  unsettled.  It  is  one,  the  issues  of 
which  are  so  important  that,  provided  only  it  is  not  let 
to  fall  asleep,  I  would  rather  see  it  wait  the  gradual 
clearing  away  of  diificulties,  than  risk  the  dangers  of  a  too 
hasty  settlement."  Perhaps  the  wisdom  of  the  Bishop's 
advice  is  exemplified  by  the  somewhat  disastrous  history 
of  the  Public  Worship  Regulation  Act,  passed  soon  after 
his  death.  Certainly  his  policy  in  his  lifetime  in  this 
matter  shows  how  much  he  felt  that  the  Church  of 
England  must,  and  may,  in  spite  of  drawbacks  in  her 
constitution,  and  in  her  present  relation  to  the  State, 
go  on  doing  sound  and  solid  work,  the  performance  of 
which  gives  to  her  her  best  title-deeds. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY. 

In  laying  out,  in  the  preface  to  the  first  volume  of  the 
Life  of  BislioiJ  Wilhcrforcc,  the  lines  on  which  the  work 
in  his  judgment  ought  to  proceed,  Canon  Ashwell  calls 
attention  to  the  way  in  which  the  Bishop  gradually 
became  the  "representative  man  of  the  English  episco- 
pate, and  in  great  measure  the  representative  man  of  the 
English  Church."  The  seeds  of  distrust  of  him  in  hiffh 
places,  sown  in  the  Hampden  difficulty,  and  the  un- 
happy and  ill-timed  secessions  from  his  family  to 
Rome,  prevented  his  ever  being  Primate  or  Archbishop  ; 
and  his  succession  to  Winchester  was  described  by 
Mr.  Gladstone  as  "  a  tardy  and  insufficient  acknowledg- 
ment of  long  services  to  the  Church."  But  for  all  this, 
he  was  by  1867  the  "foremost  man  in  thie  Anglican 
Communion  throughout  the  world,"  and  very  much  what 
Dr.  Hook,  Dean  of  Chichester,  humorously  called  him, 
"  the  great  Lord  Bishop  of  England."  It  was  on,  and 
through,  the  waves  of  great  controversies  that  he  floated 
into  this  position ;  and  it  was  also  from  the  midst  of  like 
waves,  that  he  showed  himself  the  almost  generally 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  bench  of  bishop.s,  and  in 
his  leadership  helped  to  win  a  new  confidence  for  the 


142 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Anglican  episcopate,  to  give  it  a  new  tradition,  and 
stamp  it  with  a  new  character. 

In  the  discussions  and  controversies  connected  with 
the  publication  of  Essays  and  Reviews,  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford's  growing  ascendancy  first  became  apparent. 
He  drew  up  the  letter  in  1861  which  was  issued  by  the 
bishops  in  answer  to  addresses  asking  them  what  steps 
they  as  bishops  intended  to  take  in  the  matter,  in  which 
letter  they  stated  that  they  could  not  understand  how 
any  clergyman  could  have  published  such  opinions  as 
those  concerning  which  they  had  been  addressed,  since 
they  were  plainly  inconsistent  with  an  honest  sub- 
scription to  the  formularies  of  the  Church.  He  also,  in 
ISG-t,  when  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Wilson,  though 
condemned  in  the  Court  of  Arches,  had  been  acquitted 
on  their  appeal  to  the  Judicial  Committee,  obtained  the 
synodical  condemnation  of  the  book  in  Convocation, 
and  as  spokesman  of  the  bishops,  defended  their  action 
against  Lord  Westbury  and  Lord  Houghton,  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  Bishop  Wilberforce's  defence  of  the 
faith  on  this  occasion,  and  some  remarks  of  his  on 
inspiration,  made  at  Oxford,  very  much  modified  the 
hostility  with  which  the  Low  Church  party  had  hitherto 
felt  bound  to  regard  him.  Dr.  McNeile  said  of  him — 
"  In  our  conflict  with  infidelity,  he  is  our  invaluable 
champion " ;  and  the  Record  writes — "  We  are  often 
painfully  compelled  to  differ  from  his  Lordship,  but  our 
confidence  has  not  been  disappointed,  that  in  a  matter 
so  essentially  affecting  the  foundations  of  Christianity, 
the  Bishop  would  be  found  true  to  the  faith."  The 
necessity  of  combining  against  a  common  danger, 
brought  much  more  closely  together  the  two  parties 
in  the  Church  which  had  been  most  opposed ;  and  the 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  143 


fact  that  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  found,  under  the 
circumstances  of  their  union,  an  efficient  and  staunch 
leader,  did  a  great  deal  to  secure  for  him  that  dominant 
position  among  the  English  bishops  to  which  reference 
has  been  made. 

It  is  clear  from  charges,  sermons,  and  public  utter- 
ances, that  Bishop  Wilberforce  regarded  the  publication 
of  Essays  and  Reviews  as  an  outcome  of  a  rationalizing 
temper  and  tendency,  which  threatened,  as  he  thought,  to 
rob  the  Church  and  religion  in  England  of  the  comfort 
and  support  of  some  of  the  most  vital  and  important  of 
truths.  As  regards  the  book  itself,  he  is  careful  to  ex- 
plain, in  his  review  of  it  in  the  Quarterly,  that  he,  at 
any  rate,  does  not  rank  its  literary  merits  high.  "  There 
is,"  he  writes,  "  nothing  in  this  volume  which  is  really 
new,  and  little  which,  having  been  said  before,  is  said 
here  with  any  new  power,  or  with  any  great  additions, 
either  by  way  of  amplification,  illustration,  or  research," 
And  again  he  says — "  Here  then  we  leave  the  critical 
argument,  merely  suggesting  this  as  the  probable 
cause  why  no  general  refutation  of  the  Essays  has  yet 
appeared — that  they  are  in  fact  but  a  stringing  some- 
what loosely  together  of  the  current,  already  abundantly 
repelled  objections  and  fallacies  of  German  rationalism." 
The  popularity  and  danger  of  the  book  seemed  to  him 
to  lie,  like  the  peculiar  piquancy  of  Sydney  Smith's 
jokes,  not  so  much  in  what  was  said,  as  in  the  recol- 
lection of  who  it  was  that  said  it.  The  fact  that  the 
writers  were  clergymen,  and  most  of  them  in  prominent 
positions  as  teachers,  made  their  utterances  of  doctrines 
and  sentiments,  "  which  seemed  at  least  to  be  altogether 
incompatible  with  the  Bible,  and  the  Christian  faith  as 
the  Church  of  England  had  hitherto  received  it,  to  some 


144 


BISHOP  WILBERFOKCE. 


delightful,  and  to  others  shocking."  The  Bishop,  who 
has  written  abundantly  on  this  subject  in  two  articles 
in  the  Qaartcrly,  expresses  very  strongly  his  sense,  that 
some  at  least  of  the  writers  in  Essays  and  Reviews 
ought,  if  they  were  honest  men,  to  resign  their  positions 
in  the  Church  of  England,  as  it  was  "  imjjossible  honestly 
to  combine  the  maintenance  of  their  system  with  the 
ministry  of  that  Church."  One  of  the  Essay  writers 
had  dealt  with  this  question  from  his  point  of  view. 
He  finds  a  liberty  for  himself  in  the  matter,  which  is 
thus  criticized  by  the  Bishop,  and  thus  explained — 
"  Mr.  Wilson  proceeds  accordingly  to  consider  how  far  a 
liberty  of  opinion  is  conceded  by  our  existing  laws, 
civil  and  ecclesiastical.  The  result  of  his  consideration 
is  as  follows  : — That  as  no  one  can  be  questioned  as  to 
his  opinions,  the  teacher  may  think  what  he  pleases, 
provided  only  he  teaches  as  is  prescribed ;  '  as  far,' 
are  his  own  words,  '  as  opinion  privately  entertained, 
is  concerned,  the  liberty  of  the  English  clergyman 
appears  already  to  be  complete.'  With  most  men 
educated,  not  in  the  schools  of  Jesuitism,  but  in 
the  sound  and  honest  moral  training  of  an  English 
education,  the  mere  entering  on  the  record  such  a 
plea  as  this  must  destroy  the  whole  case.  If  the 
position  of  the  religious  instructor  is  to  be  maintained 
only  by  his  holding  one  thing  as  true,  and  teaching 
another  thing  as  to  be  received  in  the  name  of  the 
God  of  truth,  either  let  all  teaching  cease,  or  let  the 
fraudulent  instructor  abdicate  willingly  his  office,  before 
the  moral  indignation  of  an  as  yet  uncorrupted  people 
thrust  him  ignominiously  from  his  abused  seat."  Mr. 
Wilson  was  one  of  the  four  tutors  who,  when  Tract 
90  was  published,  raised  a  charge  of  dishonesty  against 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  145 


the  principles  of  subscription  therein  advocated.  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford  points  out  the  irony  of  circumstances, 
which  made  what  was  a  justifiable  and  not  unnatural 
action  then,  a  condemnation  of  the  protester's  own 
somewhat  similar  evasion  and  subtlety  at  a  later  time.i 
The  question  of  subscription  was  one  much  agitated  in 
Bishop  Wilberforce's  day ;  he  sat  on  the  Royal  Com- 
mission appointed  to  consider  it,  and  wrote  an  article  in 
the  Quarterly  Bcvieiv  on  the  subject.  The  old  stringent 
forms  of  subscription  were,  as  he  showed,  the  results, 
not  of  clerical,  but  of  lay,  panic,  fearing,  in  a  time  of 
liberty,  a  return  to  spiritual  tyrannies  from  which  an 
escape  had  been  found.  He  advocated,  and  helped  to 
obtain,  a  relaxation  in  the  stringency  of  the  terras  of 
subscription,  and  also  a  limitation  in  the  number  of 
those,  who,  not  being  clergy,  ought  to  be  called  on  to 
make  it ;  but  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the  temper 
that,  having  undertaken  to  discharge  certain  duties,  for 
certain  considerations,  on  certain  conditions,  was  not 
prepared  to  give  up  position  and  emoluments  on  finding 
it  impossible  to  fulfil  its  voluntary  engagements. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  assert  that  the  speculations 
on  religious  questions,  which  had  become  common  at 
the  time  when  Ussays  and  Bevicxvs  were  published,  and 
which  were  "  characterized  by  a  repugnance  to  all  fixed 
belief  in  dogmas  as  having  been  directly  communicated 
by  God  to  man,"  were  the  result  and  issue  entirely 
of  a  reaction  against  the  Church  revival  that  suc- 
ceeded the  Oxford  movement.  In  his  preface  to  the 
volume  of  Replies  to  Essays  and  Bcvieivs,  Bishop  Wilber- 
force  very  clearly  states  his  view  on  this  matter  in  the 

1  Quarterly  Article,  Essays  and  Reviews.  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
Essays,  ii.  pp.  14(3-8. 

L 


146 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


following  words — "  It  is  not  other  than  a  very  narrow 
philosophy,  which  would  conceive  of  them  as  a  mere 
reaction  from  recently  renewed  assertions  of  the  pre- 
eminent importance  of  dogmatic  truth  and  primitive 
Christian  practice,  or  even  from  the  excesses  and  evils 
Avhich  have,  as  they  always  do,  attended  on  and  dis- 
figured the  revival  of  the  truth.  No ;  this  movement 
of  the  human  mind  has  been  far  too  wide-spread,  and 
connects  itself  with  far  too  general  conditions,  to  be 
capable  of  so  narrow  a  solution.  Much  more  true  is 
the  explanation  which  sees  in  it  the  first  stealing  over 
the  sky  of  the  lurid  lights,  which  shall  be  shed  pro- 
fusely around  the  great  Anti-christ.  For  these  diffi- 
culties gather  their  strength  from  a  spirit  of  lawless 
rejection  of  all  authority,  from  a  daring  claim  for  the 
unassisted  human  intellect  to  be  able  to  discover, 
measure,  and  explain  all  things." 

In  Mr.  Baden  Powell's  Essay  On  the  Study  of  the 
Evidences  of  Christianity,  he  speaks  of  "a  work  which 
had  then  appeared  .  .  .  which  must  soon  bring  about 
an  entire  revolution  of  opinion  in  favour  of  the  grand 
jirinciple  of  the  scIf-cvolving  poivers  of  nature!'  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford's  criticism  on  this  statement  runs 
thus — "  These  words,  '  the  self-evolving  powers  of 
nature,'  convey  no  meaning  to  our  mind  if  they  do  not 
intentionally  resolve  the  notion  of  a  Personal  Creator 
into  the  misty  hieroglyphics  of  the  Atheist."  The  work 
referred  to  was  Mr.  C.  Darwin's  Origin  of  Sx>ccies,  a 
more  wholesome  product  of  the  intellectual  activity  of 
the  time  at  which  it  was  published,  than  the  religious 
speculations  that  were  put  forward  just  then,  and 
Avhich  were  inclined,  as  the  above  extract  shows,  to 
make  capital  out  of  its  conclusions.    The  Bislioji  of 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  147 


Oxford  wrote  a  review  of  Mr.  Darwin's  book  in  the 
Quarterly,  and  also  spoke  against  the  theory  he  ad- 
vanced when  the  British  Association  met  at  Oxford 
in  1860.  As  regards  his  quaUfications  for  these  under- 
takings, it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Bishop, 
amongst  his  many  other  pursuits  and  duties,  was  an 
ardent  naturahst.  He  had  written  appreciative  reviews 
of  the  books  of  Mr.  Knox,  in  articles  entitled  The 
Naturalist  in  Sussex,  and  The  Naturalist  on  the  Sj^y. 
His  quick  eye  for  a  new  plant  or  a  rare  bird  was 
always  remarked  by  those  who  rode  with  him ;  and 
stories  are  told  of  his  watching  from  the  library  at 
Cuddesdon  the  species  of  tit  that  came  to  feed  on  fat 
placed  in  a  wire  cage  to  attract  them ;  and  changing 
his  wrath  against  a  boy  caught  breaking  down  the 
Cuddesdon  hedges  to  a  gift  of  half-a-crown,  when  the 
offender  assured  him  that  he  had  kept  a  rare  bird  for 
him.  Thus  he  did  not  undertake  his  attack  on  the 
soundness  of  the  new  views  without  some  fitness  for 
the  task;  and  there  was  more  in  his  argument  than 
mere  odium  theologicum  and  natural  eloquence,  as  some 
of  the  scientific  men  gathered  at  Oxford  were  disposed 
to  tliink.  Mr.  Darwin  himself  says  of  the  article  on 
which  his  speech  was  based — "I  have  just  read  the 
Quarterly.  It  is  uncommonly  clever  ;  it  picks  out  with 
skill  all  the  most  conjectural  parts,  and  brings  forward 
all  the  ditficulties."  ^  Bat  the  Bishoj)  did  write  what 
he  wrote  and  say  what  he  said,  because  to  him  it 
seemed  then  that,  while  the  theory  put  forward  was 
not  in  accordance  with  scientific  fact,  it  also  tended 
to  views  which  were  not  in  accord  with  the  teacliinsrs 
of  revelation  as  to  man's  real  state,  nature,  and 
^  Life  (if  Dariviii,  ii.  p.  325. 


148 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


position.  He  feared  it,  and  perhaps  feared  it  more 
because  of  the  dangerous  atmosphere  of  thought  and 
temper  in  religious  matters  into  which  it  was,  in  his 
opinion,  brought.  However,  therefore,  the  true  bear- 
ings of  the  theory  may  be  seen  and  understood  now, 
it  is  to  be  remembered,  in  considering  Bishop  Wilber- 
force's  first  attitude  to  it,  that  it  was  for  him  involved 
indirectly  in  the  struggle,  that  he  was  making  at  the 
time  of  its  publication,  for  questioned  and  threatened 
truth.  It  rejoiced  him  to  feel  that  he  could  write 
thus  concerning  Mr.  Darwin's  book — "  We  think  it 
difficult  to  find  a  theory  fuller  of  assumptions — and  of 
assumptions  not  grounded  upon  alleged  facts  in  nature, 
but  which  are  absolutely  opposed  to  all  the  facts  we 
have  been  able  to  observe."  ^  His  feeling  was  that 
the  conclusions  reached  in  the  Origin  of  Species  did  in 
eflfect  banish  God  from  nature,  and  so  it  was  that  he 
penned  the  following  passage — "And  so  Mr.  Darwin 
not  only  finds  in  it  {i.  e.  nature)  those  bungling  con- 
trivances which  his  own  greater  skill  could  amend,  but 
he  stands  aghast  before  its  mightier  phenomena.  The 
presence  of  death  and  famine  seems  to  him  inconceiv- 
able on  the  ordinary  idea  of  creation ;  and  he  looks 
almost  aghast  at  them  until  reconciled  to  their  presence 
by  his  own  theory  that  '  a  ratio  of  increase  so  high  as 
to  lead  to  a  struggle  for  life  and,  as  a  consequence,  to 
natural  selection,  entailino-  diverorence  of  character  and 
the  extinction  of  less  improved  forms,  is  decidedly 
followed  by  the  most  exalted  object  which  we  are 
capable  of  conceiving,  namely,  the  production  of  the 
higher  animals.'  But  we  can  give  him  a  simpler 
solution  still  for  the  presence  of  these  strange  forms  of 
^  Ussays,  Bishop  Wilberforce,  ii.  p.  97. 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  149 


imperfection  and  suffering  amongst  the  works  of  God. 
We  can  tell  him  of  the  strong  shudder  which  ran 
through  all  this  world  when  its  head  and  ruler  fell."  ^ 
In  the  matter  then  of  his  unfavourable  criticism  of 
Mr.  Darwin's  first  great  book,  Bishop  Wilberforce  spoke 
because  he  believed,  and  was  influenced  by,  the  issues 
involved  in  the  controversy  with  what  has  been  called 
the  Broad  Church  party  in  the  Church,  in  which,  in 
common  with  the  members  of  the  High  and  Low 
Church  party,  he  was  then  engaged. 

His  wide  sympathy  with  all  that  was  real  and  earnest 
in  thought  and  action  had  made  him  find  friends  in  all 
schools  of  thought.  It  bears  on  his  fitness  to  guide  the 
assertion  of  the  truth  in  the  Church  of  England,  which 
he  felt  necessary  at  the  Essays  and  Beviews  period,  to 
remember  that  he  knew  and  understood  those  whom  he 
then  opposed.  In  his  early  days  men  had  found  fault 
with  him  for  his  connection  with  the  Sterling  Club, 
and  his  meeting  there  with  some  who  held  broad  and 
free  opinions  on  religious  matters.  He  had  used  his 
influence,  unsuccessfully,  to  prevent  Professor  Maurice 
from  being  called  upon  to  resign  his  professorship  at 
King's  Collesje  because  of  the  unsoundness  of  his  views, 
holding  that  explanation  might  solve  the  difficulty. 
He  had  also  had  an  intimacy  with  Baron  Bunsen,  and 
had  entered  into  his  ideas  that  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric 
Bill  might  be  a  means  of  restoring  episcopacy  in 
Prussia.  Dean  Burgon  laments  his  "  seeming  allowance 
(sometimes  in  conversation)  of  German  authors  whose 
writings  the  Church  deservedly  holds  in  abhorrence." 
This  all  goes  to  make  it  clear  that  conviction,  not 
narrowness,  governed  his  utterances,  and  guided  his 
1  Essays,  Bishop  Wilberforce,  ii.  p.  97. 


150 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


actions,  when  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  oppose  the 
movement  which,  in  1860  and  the  years  that  followed, 
seemed  to  threaten  the  rij^ht  maintaining  of  vital 
truths,  and  to  call  on  him  to  assist  in  "banishing  and 
driving  away  strange  doctrines  from  his  diocese,"  and 
from  the  Church. 

The  Bishop  in  his  charge  for  1860  summarizes  some 
of  the  dangers  that  seemed  to  him  to  threaten  from 
Rationalism.  He  writes  thus — "  Surely  this  is  not  a 
time  when  any  of  us  would  do  anything  which,  by  ever 
so  remote  a  consequence,  might  tend  to  weaken  our 
Church's  hold,  or  obscure  its  statement,  of  fundamental 
truth.  Are  there  not  rather,  brethren,  signs  enough 
abroad  amongst  us  of  special  danger  from  this  side  to 
make  us  drop  all  lesser  differences,  and  combine  together 
as  one  man  in  striving  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints;  when  from  within  our  own 
encampment  are  heard  voices  declaring  that  our  old 
belief  in  the  atonement  wrought  out  for  us  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Cross  is  nothing  better  than  an  ignorant 
misconception,  injurious  to  the  character  of  God ;  that 
the  miracles  and  prophecies  of  Scripture  are  parts  of  '  an 
irrational  supernaturalism,'  ^which  it  is  the  duty  of  a 
'  remorseless  criticism '  to  expose." 

In  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  view  the  central  point  in 
the  religious  controversies  of  the  time  in  which  Essays 
and  Revieivs  were  published  was  the  question  of  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture.  The  Essay  writers  made  much 
of  the  necessity  of  assuming  in  ourselves  a  "  verifying 
faculty,"  in  dealing  with  Scripture.  This,  and  the 
notion  that  Holy  Scripture  is  to  be  treated  as  any  other 
book,  were,  as  the  Bishop  thought,  the  idea  of  the  whole 
volume;  and  he  understands  by  the  "verifying  faculty" 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  151 


the  power  that  was  supposed  to  be  in  each  maa 
of  deciding  what  is,  and  what  is  not,  true  in  the 
inspired  record.^  It  seemed  to  him,  as  he  explains  at 
the  end  of  his  Quarterly  article  on  Essays  and  Reviews 
that  it  was  being  asked  that  a  definition  of  inspiration 
should  be  given,  exact  far  beyond  what  it  is  possible  to 
have.  His  words  on  the  subject  are — "  We  maintain 
that  this  craving  for  '  a  theory  of  inspiration '  is  itself  a 
part  of  the  disease  we  have  to  treat.  In  this  sense  of 
the  word,  Holy  Scripture  has  never  laid  down  any 
theory  of  inspiration ;  the  Church  has  never  pro- 
pounded one;  and  there  are  plain  and,  we  think, 
sufficient  reasons  for  this  reticence.  On  this  same 
subject  he  expressed  himself  several  times  at  this  crisis ; 
and  in  a  letter  to  the  Guardian,  written  to  clear  up 
misinterpretations  of  some  remarks  of  his  made  at  a 
large  conference  held  at  Oxford  in  1864,  he  explains 
briefly  his  belief  to  be  that  "  the  whole  Bible  comes  to 
us  as  the  Word  of  God  under  the  sanction  of  God  the 
Holy  Ghost;  that  we  cannot  pick  and  choose  amidst 
its  contents ;  that  all  is  God's  Word  to  us.  Still  the 
Holy  Ghost  speaks  to  men  in  it  in  divers  manners, 
sometimes  making  a  merely  mechanical  use  of  the 
human  instrument  to  convey  God's  message,  and  some- 
times possessing  the  human  instrument  with  a  complete 
knowledge  of  what  he  had  to  speak,  leaving  him  to 
express  it  under  His  guardianship  according  to  the 
natural  use  of  the  human  faculties."  It  seemed  to  the 
Bishop  that,  if  this  was  grasped,  the  difficulties  which 
beset  the  orthodox  view,  owing  to  what  was  called  the 
theory  of  "  verbal  inspiration,"  would  be  overcome  ;  and 
that  men  would  realize  what  was  the  essential  differ- 
1  Esmtjs,  Bishop  Wilberforce,  ii.  p.  114. 


152 


BISHOP  WILBERFORGE. 


ence  between  Holy  Scripture  and  other  books,  namely, 
that  "as  all  truth  comes  from  God,  'other  books'  may  in 
a  sense  be  said  to  be  inspired  because  they  are  true, 
but  Holy  Scripture  alone  can  be  affirmed  to  be  true 
because  it  is  inspired."  ^  Such  were  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
views  about  this  central  point;  it  remains  to  see  briefly 
how  he  steered  the  Church  of  England  in  other  ways 
through  the  time  of  difficulty  which  was  characterized 
by  a  tendency  to  think  lightly  of  creeds  and  dogmas,  and 
to  trust  in  religious  questions  too  entirely  to  reason. 

The  Bishop  has  a  word  of  warning,  first  of  all,  for 
those  who  hoped  that  a  high  morality  could  be  main- 
tained without  the  support  and  sanction  of  definite 
teaching  as  to  God  — "  The  articles  of  the  Christian 
creed,"  he  says,  "  are  in  truth  as  much  the  basis  of 
Christian  morals  as  of  Christian  faith."  ^  And  again, 
"Remove  the  theology,  and  you  take  away  the  moi-al- 
ity."  ^  In  two  University  sermons  published  with  the 
title  of  "  The  Revelation  of  God  the  Probation  of  Man," 
he  protests  against  the  tendency  shown  to  suggest 
doubts  to  the  young,  and  to  treat  them,  not  as  a  disease, 
but  a  state  to  be  encouraged,  and  "  a  sacred  agony  of 
man's  nature  in  its  noblest  and  most  typical  embodi- 
ments." *  Against  this  he  urges  as  a  principle  that 
"doubts  about  revelation  are  to  be  met  like  any  other 
temptations  to  evil  thoughts."  Not,  however,  that  doubt, 
in  itself,  is  to  be  regarded  as  sinful,  but  the  allowance  and 
encouragement  of  doubting ;  for  it  is,  as  he  explains,  a 
peculiar  form  of  temptation,  and  ought  therefore  to  be 
resisted  as  a  temptation.  He  has  also  a  word  to 
say  against  those  who  urged  that  the  putting  aside  of 

1  Life,  iii.  p.  149.  ^  fjssays,  Bishop  Wilberforce,  ii.  p.  160. 
3  rbi'L  p.  161.  ^  Hjid.  p.  210. 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  153 


differences,  wliich  he  advocated  in  the  face  of  a  common 
danger,  was  too  much  aa  attempt  to  unite,  by  a  commun- 
ity of  present  hatred,  those  who  had  before  represented 
really  different  sides  of  the  common  truth.  His  answer 
is,  that  it  is  "  the  agreement  rather  of  men,  who  have 
inherited  jointly  some  vast  treasure,  and  who  in  times 
of  security  have  differed,  it  may  be,  something  in  their 
several  estimates  of  the  value  of  itsvarious  parts,  to  defend 
in  a  moment  of  danger  the  priceless  deposit  against 
the  common  robber."  Thus  their  bond  of  union  was  not 
hatred  of  the  assailant,  but  love  for  that  which  he  assails. 

In  the  whole  matter  there  were  three  things  at  which 
Bishop  Wilberforce  aimed,  so  as  to  get  the  truth 
established  and  maintained.  Firstly,  at  direct  assault  on 
the  assailants  in  defence  of  the  threatened  doctrines. 
Secondly,  at  the  calm,  comprehensive,  and  scholarlike 
declaration  of  positive  truth  upon  all  the  matters  in 
dispute.  Lastly,  at  "  the  distinct,  solemn,  and  if  need 
were,  severe  decision  of  authority,  that  assertions  of  the 
character  found  in  Essays  and  Reviews  could  not  be 
put  forward  as  possibly  true,  or  even  advanced  as  admit- 
ting of  question  by  honest  men,  who  were  bound  by 
voluntary  obligations  to  teach  the  Christian  revelation 
as  the  truth  of  God."  It  was  to  this  end  that  he  moved 
Convocation  to  do  as  it  had  not  been  able  to  do  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  censure  and  condemn  the 
book  tfiat  caused  the  offence,  and  so,  by  implication,  the 
phase  of  thought  to  which  it  belonged.  And  the  result 
has  been  here,  as  so  often  in  the  long  and  chequered 
history  of  Christ's  Church,  that  the  attempts  of  teachers 
of  error  have  been  overruled,  and  have  led,  as  in  the  case 
of  Arius,  to  a  more  complete  assertion,  understanding, 
and  triumph  of  the  impugned  truth. 


154 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


There  are  yet  one  or  two  other  actions  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce  which  should  be  mentioned  here,  as  belong- 
ing to  his  defence  and  maintenance  of  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  and  the  creeds  of  the  Church.  The  temper 
of  the  times  towards  this  authority  led  him  to  resist 
the  attempts  to  alter  the  Prayer-Book,  so  as  to  make 
the  Church  of  England  more  comprehensive,  that  there 
might  be  included  in  the  Established  Church,  as  it  was 
urged,  a  "  Living'stone  or  a  Havelock."  He  would  have 
no  such  sacrifices  of  truth  as  were  thus  proposed,  and, 
knowing  the  danger  of  even  more  sweeping  demands 
and  comprehensions,  advised  to  let  the  quiet  waters 
remain  still  and  leave  the  Prayer-Book  alone.  We 
can  trace  his  reverence  for  Scripture  in  his  dealings 
with  the  Divorce  Bill  in  1856,  when  he  fought  against 
provisions  such  as  that  allowing  the  re-marriage  of 
divorced  persons  during  the  lifetime  of  the  divorced 
husband  or  wife,  as  being  in  opposition  to  the  Word  of 
God  which  is  embodied  in  the  law  of  our  Church. 
Again  in  1872  he  resisted  proposals  that  would  have 
led  to  the  practical  shelving  of  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
The  time  was  a  critical  one,  as  the  Broad  Church  party 
were  urgent  for  a  change  in  the  use  of  the  Creed  to  the 
extent,  at  least,  of  making  it  always  alternative  with  the 
Ajjostles'  Creed.  The  High  Churchmen,  on  their  side, 
threatened  a  serious  defection  from  the  Church  of 
England  if  the  Creed  were  touched.  The  situation  was 
further  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the  Letter  of  Busi- 
ness sent  to  Convocation,  when  it  met  at  that  time, 
gave  it  a  new  liberty  in  allowing  its  members  to  debate, 
consult,  and  agree  upon  points,  matters,  and  things 
contained  in  the  fourth  and  final  report  of  the  Ritual 
Commissioners.    This  involved  the  consideration  of  the 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  155 


use  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  in  the  Church  Services ; 
and  it  was  mainly  by  the  Bishop's  tact  that  the  matter 
was  left  in  a  condition  that  at  any  rate  saved  a  disrup- 
tion. Witness  Dr.  Pusey's  words  in  a  letter  to  him — 
"  Thanks  be  to  God.  I  bless  Him  for  your  Lordship's 
interposition." 

It  remains  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  counsels 
suggested  by  Bishop  Wilberforce  in  the  difficulties 
with  Bishop  Colenso.  On  this  occasion,  as  in  the  matter 
of  Essays  and  Reviews — where  the  two  writers  who  were 
prosecuted,  though  condemned  in  the  Court  of  Arches, 
were  acquitted  on  appeal — it  became  plain  that,  when 
men  were  called  on  to  answer  charges  involving  false 
doctrine,  their  position  in  the  eye  of  the  law  was  likely 
to  seem  diiferent  from  Avhat  it  would  appear  in  the  eye 
of  the  Church.  Their  offences  were  criminal  under  the 
existing  institutions,  and  thus  they  got  the  benefit  of  every 
doubt,  and  were  very  proj^erly  tried  by  the  letter  of  the 
formularies.  Bishop  Wilberforce  would  have  liked 
Convocation,  or  a  body  of  episcopal  referees,  to  have 
expounded  first,  in  all  these  cases,  what  the  real  doctrines 
involved  in  them  were,  and  then  that  the  Courts  should 
have  decided  under  the  guidance  thus  given.  Failings 
this,  decisions  given  in  the  Courts  involving  doctrines 
were  often  eminently  unsatisfactory  to  Churchmen,  and 
seemed  to  bring  very  perilously  near  a  secession  from 
the  Church.  It  was  to  allay  the  alarms  of  men  like 
these,  that  Convocation  was  brought  to  condemn  Essays 
and  Reviews,  and  that  it  was  moved  also  to  give 
opinions  on  Bishop  Colenso's  position  after  the  publica- 
tion of  his  books,  and  especially  after  his  excommunication 
by  the  Bishop  of  Capetown.  Once  again,  in  all  this, 
Bishop  Wilberforce  took  a  prominent  part,  and  worked 


15G 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


to  bring  about  such  a  position  of  affairs  as  would  give 
Churchmen  a  ground  for  being  satisfied,  and  cause  the 
Anglican  Communion  in  England,  and  beyond  it,  to 
seem  to  speak  with  one  voice.  In  the  Colenso  trouble 
the  situation  was  much  complicated  by  the  divisions  of 
opinion  amongst  the  English  bishops  themselves,  not 
indeed  as  to  tlie  errors  contained  in  Bishop  Colenso's 
books  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and  the  Pentateuch, 
but  as  to  the  possibility,  the  expediency,  and  even  the 
justice  of  accomplishing  anything  real  against  him. 

In  1862,  after  the  publication  of  the  first  book,  and 
a  letter  from  Bishop  Gray  to  Bishop  Wilberforce 
asking  that  he  would  consult  the  Archbishop  and  the 
other  bishops  on  his  behalf,  Bishop  Wilberforce  tried  to 
get  a  common  agreement  of  the  bishops.  His  idea  was 
that  the)'  should  say  to  Bishop  Colenso,  on  his  arrival 
in  England,  "  that  he  came  under  a  sort  of  question  as 
to  his  soundness  by  his  metropolitan  ;  that  tlicy  had  read 
the  book,  and  without  adjudging  whether  it  was  heretical 
or  not,  were  persuaded  that  its  language  was,  to  say  the 
least,  such  that  it  imist  suggest  to  the  reader  the  most 
unsound  views  ;  that  they  therefore  invited  its  suppres- 
sion ;  and,  failing  that,  agreed  to  request  him  not  to 
officiate  in  their  dioceses  until  the  matter  had  been 
legally  examined."'  Common  action  proved  impractic- 
able, but  individual  bishops  meant  to  proceed  on  the 
above  lines.  For  the  peace  of  the  Church,  Bishop 
Wilberforce,  who  had  a  friendship  with  Bishop  Colenso, 
and  by  his  addresses  in  Cornwall  had  first  roused  in  him 
the  missionary  spirit,  tried  privately  to  induce  him,  while 
in  England,  to  do  nothing  to  compel  the  bishops,  either 
individually  or  collectively,  to  notice  his  publication. 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  115,  etc. 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  157 


This  was  in  vain,  and  the  bold  statements  in  The 
Pentateuch  Critically  Examined,  published  soon  after, 
forced  on  some  action.  At  a  meeting  of  bishops,  Bishop 
Wilberforce  tried  to  pass  a  resolution,  "  that  the  bishops 
agreed,  under  a  great  scandal,  without  passing  judg- 
ment as  to  heresy,  to  inhibit."  Stormy  scenes  and 
divided  counsels  characterized  this  "  painful  meeting," 
and  at  the  end  a  committee  was  appointed,  of  which 
Bishop  Wilberforce  was  a  member,  to  draw  up  a  letter 
to  Bishop  Colenso,  which  was  signed  by  forty-one 
bishops.  The  essence  of  this  letter  is  contained  in  the 
following  passage — "  It  cannot  have  escaped  you,  that 
the  inconsistency  between  the  office  you  hold  and  the 
opinions  you  avow  is  causing  great  pain  and  grievous 
scandal  to  the  Church.  And  we  solemnly  ask  you  to 
consider  once  more,  with  the  most  serious  attention, 
whether  you  can,  without  harm  to  your  own  conscience, 
retain  your  position,  when  you  can  no  longer  discharge 
its  duties,  or  use  the  formularies  to  which  you  have 
subscribed." 

This  was  all  of  no  effect,  as  was  also  the  desire  of  the 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  that  the  book  on  the 
Pentateuch  should  be  synodically  condemned.  The 
Upper  House  would  take  no  action  then,  as  they 
believed  the  book  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  judgment 
of  an  ecclesiastical  court.  It  had  already  been  ruled,  in 
the  case  of  Long  v.  Bishop  of  Capetown,  that  the  letters 
patent,  constituting  the  Bishop  of  Capetown  metro- 
politan and  giving  him  jurisdiction,  were  invalid.  The 
Bishop  of  Capetown  therefore  claimed  a  consensual 
jurisdiction,  as  the  Bishop  of  Natal  had  accepted  his 
metropolitical  authority;  and  the  only  appeal  from 
himself,  that  he  would  acknowledge,  was  to  the  Arch- 


158 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


bishop  of  Canterbury  as  Patriarch.  On  his  return  to 
Capetown,  the  metropolitan  tried  and  condemned  Bishop 
Colenso  and  deposed  him  from  his  See,  and  was  pre- 
pared to  excommunicate  him  if  contumacious.  Bishop 
Colenso  then  presented  a  petition  to  the  Crown,  which 
was  referred  to  the  Judicial  Committee,  not  appealing 
against  the  sentence  of  his  metropolitan,  for  he  ignored 
it,  but  asking  that  all  the  proceedings  should  be  de- 
clared null  and  void,  and  that  he  should  be  entitled  to 
hold  his  See  until  the  letters  patent  granted  to  him 
should  have  been  cancelled  by  due  process  of  law. 

At  this  juncture.  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  anxious, 
first  of  all,  to  keep  the  Bishop  of  Capetown  from  taking 
any  further  steps  till  the  members  of  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee had  given  their  decision ;  and  was  disposed  to 
think  that,  after  the  judgment  in  the  case  of  Archdeacon 
Long,  they  would  refuse  to  hear  the  case  at  all.  His 
influence  brought  it  about  that,  when  the  suit  was  heard, 
the  Bishop  of  Capetown  did  appear  by  counsel  under 
protest:  and,  though  this  was  beyond  his  instructions 
from  the  Bishop  of  Capetown  at  the  time,  the  latter 
afterwards  acquiesced  in  the  arrangement  as  wisest  and 
most  respectful  to  the  Queen.  Wlien  the  judgment 
given  by  Lord  Westbury  decided  t])at  Bishop  Gray's 
letters  patent  did  not  give  him  supreme  control  over 
the  Church  in  South  Africa,  and  that  i7i  km  his 
deposition  of  Bishop  Colenso  was  null  and  void,  the 
Bisliop  of  Oxford  tried  to  persuade  him  not  to  excom- 
municate. His  opinion  was  that,  while  the  deposition, 
though  canonically  and  .spiritually  valid,  was  not 
legally  so,  to  excommunicate  would  only  be  to  increase 
difficulties;  he  knew  that  bishops  at  home  would  not 
be  got,  as  a  body,  to  ratify  a  sentence  of  excommunica- 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  159 


tion ;  and  he  felt  that  an  opinion  sorrowfully  expressed 
by  Mr.  Keble  at  the  time  was  a  right  one,  viz.,  "  that 
nobody  then — at  least  no  Anglican — with  very  few 
exceptions,  really  believed  in  excommunication,"  and  so 
it  would  be  disregarded  and  a  world-wide  scandal.  His 
advice  was  that  Bishop  Gray  should  at  once  consecrate 
a  new  bishop  for  Natal.  In  a  letter  to  him  in  18G5 
he  accordingly  Avrites  thus — "  I  should  advise  you  to 
get  the  laity  and  clergy  to  meet  and  elect  a  bishop.  .  . 
I  would  then  have  a  trust  deed  carefully  drawn,  which 
he  and  those  who  would  should  sign,  declaring  himself 
bishop  of  the  South  African  Church  in  full  communion 
with  us.  I  would  have  him  take  office  on  condition  of 
being  able  to  carry  out  all  the  resolutions,  canons,  etc., 
diocesan  and  provincial,  of  your  own  body ;  and  one  of 
them  should  be  to  submit  himself  to  your  judgment, 
etc.,  when  need  was,  in  camera,  as  completely  and  in 
the  same  degree  as  he  would  be  bound  to  do  if  you  had 
legal  jurisdiction  as  metropolitan."  This  was  at  last 
done  ;  but,  by  the  time  the  new  bishop  was  consecrated, 
Bishop  Colenso  had  returned  to  Natal,  having  also 
obtained  a  decision  that  forced  the  Colonial  Bishoprics 
Fund  still  to  pay  liim  his  salary  on  the  ground  that  his 
letters  patent  still  held  good.  Tlie  account  of  the 
struggle  between  the  Church  in  South  Africa  and 
Bishop  Colenso  does  not  belong  to  the  matters  we  are 
discussing.  In  Jilay  1865,  Bishop  Wilberforce  moved  an 
address  to  the  Bishop  of  Capetown,  whicli  was  carried, 
commending  his  courage,  and  thanking  the  Church  in 
South  Africa  for  its  "noble  stand  against  heretical  and 
false  doctrine."  Tliis  address  passed  no  opinion  on  any 
of  the  i"eal  points  of  difficulty,  and  was  really  a  well- 
meant  effort  to  end  the  matter  decently  and  quietly. 


160 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


In  November  1865,  Bishop  Gray  did  excommunicate 
Bishop  Colenso ;  and  though  the  Church  at  home  was 
quite  ready  to  declare  that  it  recognized  and  held 
communion  with  the  new  Bishop  of  Natal,  it  was  found 
very  difficult  to  get  a  formal  recognition  of  the  excom- 
munication. In  1868  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation 
was  prepared  to  give  this,  but  the  Upper  House  was 
not;  and  the  matter  ended  by  the  adoption  of  two 
suggestions  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Upper 
House,  setting  forth  that  "  substantial  justice  had  been 
done  to  the  accused,  and  that  though  the  Bishop  of 
Capetown's  sentence  could  claim  no  legal  effect,  yet  the 
Church,  as  a  spiritual  body,  could  rightly  accept  its 
validity."  The  whole  case  illustrates  the  way  in  which 
the  Established  Church  was  hampered  by  its  legal 
position,  and  the  timidity  with  which  its  leaders  faced 
new  situations  born  from  developments  in  Church  life, 
which,  though  healthy  and  wholesome,  were  to  them 
strange.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford  used  his  great  influence 
to  hinder  disruptions,  which  were  threatened  under 
such  circumstances,  and  to  secure  opportunities  for  the 
Church  to  justify  herself  in  the  eyes  of  men  by  her 
work. 

In  1867,  the  first  meeting  of  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Pan- Anglican  synod  was  held  at  Lambeth.  It  was 
a  natural  outcome  of  the  great  growth  in  organized 
Church  life,  which  had  taken  place  as  the  American, 
colonial,  and  missionary  episcopates  increased  and 
extended.  It  was  undei'taken  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
Canadian  and  colonial  bishops,  and  was  regarded  with 
some  suspicion  at  first  by  authorities  in  England,  as 
an  undue  and  dangerous  advancement  of  ecclesiastical 
claims,  and   as  implying  a  sort   of  insubordination 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  IGl 


acrainst  legitimate  State  control.  Thus  it  was  that 
Dean  Stanley  felt  himself  obliged  to  refuse  the  use  of 
Westminster  Abbey  to  the  seventy-eight  bishops,  who 
wished  to  communicate  together  there,  before  they 
began  their  deliberations  at  Lambeth.  The  fact  that 
Bishop  Gray  desired  to  obtain  on  this  occasion  a  con- 
demnation of  Bishop  Colenso,  while  the  Archbishop 
had  practically  pledged  himself  to  some  of  his  suffragans 
that  this  matter  should  not  be  brought  up,  threatened 
troubles  that  might  well  have  made  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Pan-Anglican  synod  its  last.  Once  again  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  as  he  expresses  it,  "gentled"  the 
Bishop  of  Capetown,  and  the  question  of  the  validity 
of  the  excommunication  was  not  brought  formally 
forward,  though  fifty-six  of  the  bishops  signed  a 
declaration  pronouncing  it  a  "  spiiitually  valid  sentence." 
The  following  passage  from  a  letter  to  Bishoj)  Milman 
shows  us  what  Bishop  Wilberforce  really  thought  and 
felt  in  this  "  very  anxious  matter  of  the  Pan-Anglican 
synod."  "We  cannot,"  he  writes,  "act  synodically ; 
and  yet  to  meet  and  not  to  act  has  a  damaging  air  of 
weakness.  The  great  practical  difficulty  is  Colenso. 
Passing  him  over  is  a  practical  recognition  of  the 
excommunication,  which  is  of  no  small  value ;  and  yet 
being  silent  when  the  Church,  if  she  could,  certainly 
ought  to  speak,  is  no  small  evil,  and  must  be  a  scandal."  ^ 
The  result  of  his  work  and  efforts  is  indicated  in  the 
following  passage  in  his  diary  for  September  27,  1867  — 
"  Carried,  against  London,  Winchester  and  St.  David's, 
our  acquiescence  in  the  advice  tendered  by  Convocation 
to  Natal."  This  was  in  effect  to  declare  the  See  vacant ; 
and  the  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  Natal 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  229. 

M 


1G2 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


scandal  reported  to  the  same  effect,  and  urged  the 
Church  in  South  Africa  to  consecrate  another  bishop. 
At  the  same  time  a  committee  was  also  appointed 
to  report  on  the  best  means  of  maintaining  unity  in 
faith  and  discipline  among  the  several  branches  of  the 
Anglican  Communion,  which  recommended  the  organ- 
ization  of  a  synodal  order.  Its  reports  were  received 
and  published,  though  not  forinally  adopted  by  the 
conference ;  and  it  illustrates  the  position  that  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford  held  amongst  the  bishops  of  his 
communion  to  note  that  the  Encyclical  Letter  was 
dra^Yn  up  by  him  ;  and  a  letter  to  him  from  the  Rev. 
Sir  H.  Thompson  describes  it  "as  a  very  creditable 
document,  of  which  the  vast  body  of  the  clergy  would 
greatly  approve,  owing  to  the  calm,  dignified  and 
affectionate  spirit  that  it  breathed  throughout."  A 
further  extract  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gordon,  written  by 
the  Bishoji  in  November,  shows  how  much  he  thought 
that  the  Pan-Anglican  synod,  with  its  suggestions, 
might  be  a  means  of  settling  many  difficulties  in  a 
manner  satisfactory  to  Churchmen.  His  words  are — 
"  The  Lambeth  gathering  was  a  very  great  success.  Its 
strongly  anti-Erastian  tone  ....  strengthening  those 
who  hope  to  maintain  the  Establishment  by  maintain- 
ing, instead  of  by  surrendering,  the  dogmatic  character 
of  the  Church,  was  quite  remarkable.  We  are  now 
sitting  in  committee  trying  to  complete  our  work,  by 
agreeing  to  a  court  of  highest  doctrinal  appeal  for  the 
free  colonies  of  America.  If  we  can  carry  this  out,  we 
shall  have  erected  a  barrier  of  immense  moral  strength 
against  the  Privy  Council  Latitudinarianism.  My  view 
is  that  God  gives  us  the  opportunity,  as  at  home 
Latitudinarianism  must  spread,  of  encircling  the  home 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  163 


Church  with  a  band  of  far  more  dogmatic  truth-holding 
communions,  who  will  act  most  strongly  in  favour  of 
truth  here." 

This  last  idea  of  Bishop  Wilberforce's,  that  the 
English  Church  in  foreign  lands  might,  from  her 
greater  liberty  and  perhaps  reality,  re-act  favourably  and 
usefully  on  the  Church  at  home,  is  altogether  a  most 
important  one  to  dwell  upon  in  considering  his  work 
and  services.  It  was  very  necessary  that  the  Church, 
in  face  of  panics,  and  jealousies,  and  Erastian  notions 
about  her  position  that  prevailed  at  home,  should  have 
a  field  where  she  could  be  seen  working  as  a  spiritual 
organization,  and  not  so  much  as  a  State  machine.  We 
are  told  that  Bishop  Wilberforce's  diaries  and  letter- 
books  show  that  he  came  at  last  to  be  consulted  in 
matters  of  doubt  and  diflficulty,  by  bishops  and  others 
belonging  to  the  Anglican  Communion  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Certainly  he  had  a  very  great  part  and  share 
in  the  development  of  all  the  daughter  churches, 
which  now  send  their  bishops  to  attend  the  Pan- 
Anglican  synods  at  Lambeth.  He  was  an  unwearied 
and  enthusiastic  supporter  of  Bishop  Blomfield's  great 
movement  for  increasing  the  colonial  episcopate,  and 
he  laboured  unceasingly  to  establish  for  the  colonial 
missionary  dioceses  their  right  and  true  position  of 
freedom  from  legal  trammels,  that  are  part  of  the 
burden  that  the  Church  of  England  bears,  in  England 
itself,  from  its  establishment. 

We  have  already  seen  how  strongly  Bishop  Wilber- 
force  pressed  the  necessity,  in  efforts  made  for  spreading 
Christianity  over  the  whole  world,  of  missions  and 
colonial  churches  being  headed  by  bishops,  if  the 
Christianity  taught  was  to  be  a  sound  and  real  one 


164 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


based  upon  a  distinct  dogma  of  the  faith,  and  connected 
with  the  distinct  disciphne  of  the  English  Church. 
Now  there  was  long  a  deep-rooted  prejudice,  in  the 
minds  of  many  Churchmen  and  men  in  authority  in 
England,  against  this  sending  out  of  bishops  for  foreign 
Anglican  churches;    it  was  thought  that  they  might 
well  be  put  under  the  control  of  bishops  at  home. 
Thus  in  1829,  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  felt  that 
the  rapidly  increasing  Australian  colonies  must  have 
a  Church,  it  seemed  to  him  sufficient  to  send  out  one 
archdeacon.    Bishop  Wilberforce  was  unceasing  in  his 
efforts  to  destroy  the  evil  effects  of  this  fallacy,  and  in 
maintaining  the  principle  that  it  was  essential  that  a 
Church  in  a  new  country  should  have  a  bishop,  if  it 
was  to  grow  and  develope,  and  that  the  appointment  of 
a  bishop  should  come  first,  and  not  last,  in  its  organ- 
ization.   Some  thought  that,  in  the  matter  of  missionary 
churches  especially,  the  only  safe  thing  was  to  have 
them  under  central  control.    It  was  this  feeling  that 
led  the  Church  Missionary  Society  to  hinder  in  1853 
the  passing  of  the  Church  Missionary  Bishops'  Bill,  to 
enable  English  prelates  to  consecrate  British  subjects 
to  act  as  bishops  in  a  foreign  or  heathen  country. 
Bishop  Wilberforce  was  active  in  obtaining  its  passage 
through  the  House  of  Lords,  and  getting  support  for  it 
in  the  Commons,  where  it  was  lost.    In  the  second 
volume  of  his  Life,  there  is  a  correspondence  with  Sir 
James  Stephen,  whom  the  Bishop  takes  to  task  for 
misrepresenting  the  bishops  and  their  aims  and  objects 
in  passing  this  Bill.    The  Bishop  complains  there,  that 
it  was  the  fear  that  wtis  felt  by  the  Church  Missionary 
Society   of  missionary   bishops   superseding  Church 
Missionary   committees,   which   really  hindered  the 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  165 


bishops  from  being  allowed  to  head  a  mission  of  their 
Church  in  Borneo  with  one  of  their  own  order. 

But  most  difficult  of  all  was  the  question  as  to  the 
colonial  and  missionary  bishops  and  the  royal  supremacy, 
and  their  relations  to  the  See  of  Canterbuiy.  Gradually 
it  has  become  clear  how  apparently  conflicting  interests 
and  principles  may  be  reconciled  in  this  matter ;  and  so 
a  position  and  understanding  fairly  satisfactory  to  the 
Churches  of  the  Anglican  Communion  has  been  reached. 
Ministers  have  come  to  see  that  the  appointment  of 
bishops  in  colonies  and  lands  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Crown  are  not  rightly  dependent  on  a  royal  license, 
and  that  an  Anglican  Church's  free  and  voluntary 
action  in  choosing  a  bishop  is  no  violation  of  royal 
supremacy,  or  subversive  of  any  vital  principle  govern- 
incj  the  ricfht  relations  of  Church  and  State  in  the 
British  constitution.  Those  who  once  thought  that 
there  could  be  no  episcopacy  without  prelacy,  and  that 
an  Anglican  bishop  must  always  be,  in  his  appointment 
and  legal  position,  just  as  a  bishop  of  the  Established 
Church  in  England,  have  learnt  to  see  their  error  in 
this  respect,  and  to  acknowledge  that  such  a  theory  was 
calculated  rather  to  hinder  than  aid  that  Church  life 
and  expansion  which  they  themselves  most  desired  to 
advance.  Many  laboured  to  secure  what  the  Church 
needed  in  this  matter,  and  to  show  that  for  them,  as 
Bishop  Blomfield  put  it,  "  an  episcopal  Church  without 
a  bishop  is  a  contradiction  in  terms."  Many  also 
laboured  to  bring  it  about,  that  Anglican  bishops  might 
be  seen  to  be  soniething  different  from  that  which 
Lord  Westbury  described  Bishop  Gray  and  Bishop 
Culenso  to  be,  in  the  preamble  of  his  judgment  on  the 
Colenso  case,  where  he  speaks  of  them  as  "ecclesi- 


166 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


astical  persons  who  have  been  created  bishops  by  the 
Queeu,  in  the  exercise  of  her  authority  as  sovereign  of 
this  reahn,  and  head  of  the  Established  Church."  On 
all  occasions,  however,  where  these  points  and  questions 
were  under  discussion,  and  some  new  step  was  to  be 
made.  Bishop  Wilberforce  took  a  prominent  part, 
vindicating  now  the  right  of  English  bishops  to 
consecrate  men  for  the  new  work  abroad ;  now  the 
necessity  of  these  new  leaders  taking  the  oath  of 
canonical  obedience  to  their  own  metropolitans ;  and 
now,  as  in  the  Colenso  case,  the  importance  to  the 
Church  and  Churchmen  of  decisions  that  had  a 
spiritual  rather  than  a  mei'ely  legal  character.  So  it 
was  that  he,  and  others  of  like  mind,  found  in  Lord 
Westbury's  Colenso  judgment,  "  bristling  as  it  was  with 
Erastian  insults,"  the  charter  of  freedom  for  the 
colonial  Church.  In  declaring  that  the  Crown  had  no 
power  to  grant  authority  by  letters  patent  to  one 
bishop  as  metropolitan  in  a  colony  which  had  secured  a 
constitution,  it  had  decided  that  the  Church  in  South 
Africa  was  only  capable  of  holding  jurisdiction  when  it 
was  given  by  the  State  there.  This  was  what  Bishop 
Wilberforce  had  always  wished  to  secure,  and  his 
desire  for  it  may  explain,  in  some  measure,  his  much 
criticized  action  in  1853,  when  he  supported  the 
measure  for  giving  to  the  Canadian  Legislature  the 
power  and  right  to  deal  with  the  lands  belonging  to 
the  Church  in  Canada  called  the  "  Clergy  Reserves." 
Unexpectedly,  Lord  Westbury's  judgment  was  seen  to 
be  after  all  "  of  good  omen  for  the  Church."  It 
seemed  to  set  the  colonial  Church  free  from  being 
hampered,  from  home,  with  State  restrictions.  "  The 
Churches  might  now  be  at  liberty  to  uphold  discipline 


THE  BISHOP  AND  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY.  167 


by  consensual  arrangements,  and  the  domination  of  the 
Privy  Council  was  at  an  end."  ^ 

So  it  was  again  that,  in  1867,  Bishop  Wilherforce 
was  able  to  deliver  himself  of  the  following  opinion  as 
to  the  true  position  of  colonial  Churches,  with  some 
confidence  that  his  ideas  were  at  least  in  a  fair  way  to 
be  realized.  He  explained  that  the  Church  of  England 
was  a  purely  voluntary  body  in  the  colonies,  and  had 
no  connection  with  the  Crown,  save  that  its  members 
were  subjects  of  the  Queen.  He  showed  that  it  was  a 
mistake  to  suppose,  therefore,  that  the  Church  in  the 
colonies  had  the  same  power  of  appeal  to  the  Privy 
Council  as  the  Church  at  home.  Lastly,  he  said  that 
"the  connection  between  the  colonial  Church  and  the 
Church  in  England  was  to  be  maintained  by  allowing 
the  Chiirch  in  the  colonies  to  develope  for  itself  the  true 
Church  of  England  temper,  profession  of  faith,  doctrine, 
and  internal  government,  tlius  giving  it  the  help  they 
could  give  it  to  stand  up  among  free  men  there,  itself 
there  a  free  Church,  among  free  religionists  a  free 
religion."  A  zeal  for  missionary  enterprise  and 
Church  extension  is  an  essential  part  of  the  work  of  a 
living  Christian  Church ;  it  follows  necessarily  from  a 
right  recognition  by  the  Church  of  its  real  responsibilities 
and  privileges.  Bishop  Wilberforce's  efforts  to  direct 
the  awakening  zeal  in  this  respect  that  characterized 
the  Church  movements  of  his  day,  and  his  unwearied 
labour  and  care  for  the  right  development  of  the 
Anglican  episcopate  abroad,  did  almost  more  than 
anything  else  to  raise  and  improve  the  general  standard 
of  episcopal  life  and  work  amongst  the  members  of  the 
bench  of  bishops  at  home. 

1  Perry's  English  Church  History,  iii.  p.  379. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT. 

These  pages  have  traced  thus  far  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
part,  sometimes  by  way  of  sympathy  and  sometimes  by 
way  of  restraint,  in  the  onward  and  developing  move- 
ment in  the  Church  of  England,  which  belonged  to  the 
time  of  his  episcopate.  He  had  a  firm  belief  in  his 
Church  as  divinely  instituted  and  commissioned,  and 
felt  sure  that,  if  only  she  had  scope,  time,  and  opportunity, 
she  would  amply  justify  herself  to  the  world.  Above 
all  things  he  tried  to  secure  for  her  this  necessary 
liberty,  and  was  ever  conspicuous  in  his  efforts  to  obtain 
for  the  Church  her  right  position  as  against  the  State, 
and  to  free  her  from  disabilities,  in  this  direction,  which 
past  mistakes  and  errors,  partly  in  action,  partly  in 
acquiescence,  had  laid  upon  her.  The  fact  that,  at 
different  times,  he  incurred  obloquy  from  all  parties  and 
schools  of  thought  in  the  Church,  shows  that  at  any  rate, 
in  his  endeavours,  he  did  achieve  his  own  expressed 
ambition  of  not  being  the  Bishop  of  a  party  ;  and  more 
than  any  one  else  he  did  over  and  over  again  manage 
to  secure  a  viodios  viveiuli,  at  times  when  a  disruption 
seemed  inevitable. 

Now,  at  no  time,  and  under  no  circumstances,  was 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHxMENT.  169 


this  more  conspicuously  shown  than  in  Bishop  Wilber- 
force's  ojuidance  of  the  Church  of  England,  throug-h  all 
the  troubles  which  arose,  in  the  Church  revival  of  his 
times,  from  what  we  know  as  Ritualism.  To  this  hour, 
long  after  the  grave  has  closed  over  the  great  Bishop  of 
Oxford  and  Winchester,  those  troubles  still  exist.  Some 
have  seen  in  the  steps  taken  since  his  death,  and  the 
exasperations  consequent  upon  them,  a  greater  witness 
than  in  anything  else  to  the  influence  that  he  exercised 
in  putting  forward  wise  and  moderate  counsels,  and 
restraining  ill-advised  attempts  at  repression.  There  is 
a  story  told  of  a  visit  paid  by  Dean  Stanley  to  St. 
Alban's,  Holborn,  after  which  he  was  asked  by  the  Bishop 
of  London  what  he  had  seen.  "  I  saw,"  he  said,  "  three 
men  in  green,  and  your  Lordship  will  have  great  diffi- 
culty in  putting  them  down."  We  have  now  to  consider 
what  Bishop  Wilberforce  did  in  the  two  directions  of 
preventing  ill-considered  and  ill-devised  measures  for 
putting  Ritualists  down,  and  hindering  men  inclined 
to  Ritualism  from  setting  up,  at  their  own  pleasure  and 
inclination,  rites  and  ceremonies  long  in  abeyance. 

From  the  first,  in  his  diocese,  and  in  the  Church  at 
large,  Bishop  Wilberforce  had  a  sympathy  with  the 
movement,  out  of  which  ritual  excesses  and  extrava- 
gances at  last  sprang.  He  quite  saw  that  the  standard 
of  ritual  in  the  Cliurch  of  England  had  fallen  below 
what  decency  and  order  required,  and  that  it  needed  to 
be  brought  up  to  it.  All  efforts  in  this  direction  had 
his  fullest  sympathy  and  support,  and  he  evidently  felt 
that,  for  the  time  at  any  rate,  progressive,  as  distinct 
from  merely  repressive,  zeal  in  the  Church  of  England 
was  found  most  in  those  who  were  disposed  to  work 
for  this  end.    Men  were  learning  to  beautify  their 


170 


BISHOP  WILBEEFORCE. 


houses  in  a  time  of  considerable  material  prosperity; 
he  quite  thought  that  it  was  only  right  to  make  the 
"houses  of  God  in  the  land  "  beautiful  too.  Better  modes 
of  teaching  were  being  used  everywhere,  and,  more  par- 
ticularly in  the  education  of  the  poor,  there  was  a 
general  desire  and  tendency  to  make  instruction  more 
interesting.  Bishop  Wilberforce  quite  felt  that  the 
Catholic  Church  had,  as  part  of  her  lawful  heritage,  a 
resource  of  long-neglected  ceremony  and  ritual,  which 
might  well  be  drawn  upon  to  make  worship  more 
instructive  and  interesting  too.  Lastly,  truer  and  fuller 
views  on  Eucharistic  doctrine  had  come  to  prevail  in 
the  Church  of  England  ;  and  Bishop  Wilberforce  knew 
that  there  were  lawful  ceremonies,  connected  with  the 
great  sacrament  of  the  Church,  which  would,  if  used, 
help  to  inspire  a  greater  reverence,  and  bring  out  true 
doctrine  rather  than  suggest,  as  many  feared  they 
would,  that  which  was  false.  With  ritual  excess  and 
extravagance,  however,  he  had  no  sympathy,  and  is 
found  to  speak  and  work  against  it  quite  as  strongly  as 
he  spoke  and  worked  against  the  errors  of  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

Events  had  shown  that  there  was,  in  the  Established 
Church  of  England,  a  greater  liberty  and  elasticity,  in 
matters  of  doctrine,  than  many  had  supposed,  or  desired 
to  suppose.  The  Ritualistic  difficulties  brought  out  the 
fact  that  a  like  gi-eater  elasticity  in  ritual  was  also  not 
only  allowable,  but  desirable.  This  was  a  point  on 
which  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  disposed  most  clearly  and 
pointedly  to  insist,  as  the  following  passage  from  his 
Charge  in  1866  shows : — "  Such  a  moderate  and  sober 
development  of  its  ceremonial  seems  to  me  to  belong 
necessarily  to  the  Church  as  a  living  body  ;  nor,  if  it  be 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  171 


at  all  in  its  normal  condition,  can  its  Ritual  be  healthily 
congealed  into  absolutely  unalterable  forms.  Life 
implies,  of  necessity,  change  ....  Death  only 
secures  immutability.  No  less  certainly  must  the  out- 
ward expression  of  the  life  spiritual  change  with  the 
changes  of  its  inner  currents.  Again,  in  any  normal 
condition  of  the  Church,  the  spiritual  necessities  of  the 
body  necessitate  changes.  Every  varying  phase  through 
which  it  is  passing  renders  some  change  expedient, 
perhaps  essential  to  life.  The  bark-bound  tree,  the 
hide-bound  animal,  must  suffer,  and  too  often  die.  The 
rigid  clasp  of  an  unalterable  ritual  may  fatally  repress 
zeal,  generate  formality,  or  nourish  superstition.  In  the 
normal  condition,  therefore,  of  the  Church,  ritual  must 
be,  and  ought  to  be,  elastic  and  subject  to  variations."  ^ 
In  the  development,  and  in  the  application  of  this 
requisite  liberty.  Bishop  Wilberforce  held  that  it  was 
not  desirable  to  apply  for  legal  decisions  to  the  Church 
Courts,  and  also  that  it  was  too  long  and  hazardous  to 
"  wait  for  the  tedious  issues  of  actual  legislation."  His 
idea  was  that  peace  was  largely  attainable,  if  men 
would  leave  matters  in  their  bishop's  hands,  as  the 
following  passage  shows — "  How  often,  alas,  in  our 
own  and  in  every  other  Church  has  the  ebbing  tide  of 
the  spiritual  life,  by  its  mere  listlessness,  reduced  to  its 
own  new  level  its  nominally  unaltered  ritual !  How 
often,  thank  God !  has  renewed  love  and  renewed 
earnestness  in  devotion  filled  the  old  limbs  with  a  flood 
of  life  which  has  transfigured  forms  which  it  retained  ! 
And  it  is  the  special  duty  of  the  Church's  governors  to 
understand  such  symptoms,  and  to  minister  to  their 
relief  whatever  powers  of  relaxation  or  control  have 
1  Charge  1866,  pp.  52-3. 


172 


BISHOP  WILBERFOECE. 


been  left  to  them,  without  incurring  the  hazard  or 
waiting  for  the  tedious  issues  of  actual  legislation. 
Many  such  powers  our  own  Church  has  lodged  in  its 
living  governors.  It  is  their  charge  to  interpret  am- 
biguous rubrics,  to  reduce  to  unity  matters  diversely 
taken,  to  acquiesce  in  or  disallow  changes  which  by 
minute  accretions  the  living  body  has  silently  developed. 
Great,  no  doubt,  is  the  judgment,  the  courage,  the 
knowledge,  and,  above  all,  perhaps,  the  impartiality 
which  is  needful  to  enable  them  to  discharge  aright 
these  delicate  and  often  momentous  duties.  But  they 
cannot  leave  these  duties  undone  without  grievous 
danger  to  the  polity  over  which  they  are  appointed 
overseers ;  and,  however  difficult  be  the  task,  there  is 
a  strength  for  its  discharge  which  they  who  seek  it 
faithfully  will  find.  Such  difficulties  are  the  sure 
accompaniments  of  times  of  earnestness  and  growth ; 
Avhen  the  full  amount  of  the  inner  life  must,  by  reason 
of  its  strength,  cast  itself  forth  into  some  new  develop- 
ment. Dull  and  lazy  governors  marvel  at  and  hate 
such  things ;  and  there  is  a  mixture  enough  of  evil  in 
all  such  movements  to  make  such  a  feeling  plausible  at 
least,  if  not  natural."  Thus  it  was  that  he  and  the 
other  bishops  in  1867,  on  receiving  the  report  of  the 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  on  Ritualism,  sent  down  a 
resolution  based  on  the  rubric  concerning  the  service  of 
the  Church  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  in  which 
the  Lower  House  concurred,  to  the  effect  that  "  no  alter- 
ations from  long  sanctioned  and  usual  ritual  ought  to 
be  made  in  Churches  until  the  sanction  of  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese  had  been  obtained  thereto."  So  it  is 
again  that  many  letters  of  Bishop  Wilberforce  are 
extant  in  which,  while  on  the  one  side,  to  quote  his 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT. 


173 


words,  he  tries  to  restrain  the  "parish  Diotrej^hes  seeking 
to  dictate  merely  to  those  who  are  set  over  him  in  the 
Lord,"  on  the  other  he  rebukes  the  zeal,  indiscretion,  or 
perversity  which  suddenly  started  changes  in  the 
externals  of  worship,  without  due  regard  for  the  feelings 
or  prejudices  of  the  body  of  worshippers  on  whom  they 
were  imposed. 

Bishop  Wilberforce  was  always  strong  in  insisting 
that  in  all  ritual  changes,  however  slight,  as  they  had  to 
do  with  accessories  and  not  with  essentials,  the  thing 
to  be  first  regarded  was  the  welfare  and,  to  some 
considerable  extent,  the  wish  of  the  people.  "  I  do 
not,"  he  writes  in  1866,  "call  on  you  to  preach  in  the 
surplice,  if  you  in  your  discretion  think  it  not  for  the 
peace  of  the  Church  to  do  so."  In  the  whole  question 
he  held  that  allowance  ought,  to  be  made  for  the 
"differing  conformations  of  men's  minds."  A  speech  of 
his  in  Convocation  contains  the  following  words  on  this 
point — "  The  conformation  of  my  mind  leads  me  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  simplest  form  as  being  the  most 
productive  of  devotion ;  but  it  is  not  so  with  others, 
and  I  have  no  right  to  make  what  suits  me  the  law  for 
everybody  else." 

A  ritual  revival  under  the  then  existing  circum- 
stances of  the  Church,  and  temper  of  the  times,  seemed 
to  Bishop  Wilberforce  natural  enough.  It  was  the  right 
reaction  against  a  too  great  dread  of  lawful  ritual  as  super- 
stitious, and  belonged  to  a  needed  effort  to  bring  the  stan- 
dard of  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the 
Church  of  England  up  to  that  set  by  the  Reformers.^  At 
the  same  time  the  Bishop  seemed  to  see  everywhere, 
not  only  in  our  own  Communion,  but  in  the  more  earnest 
1  aiianje  1866,  p.  50. 


174 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


of  the  religious  sects  around  it,  "  a  craving  for  a  more 
expressive  symbolism  in  worship,  which  was  probably  a 
reaction  against  the  chillness  in  which  Puritanism  had 
long  been  dying  out,  and  against  the  utter  vagueness 
of  modern  doubts."  ^  In  his  Charge  for  1866,  however, 
the  Bishop  makes  it  clear  that  the  healthy  tendency  had 
to  his  mind  more  than  begun  to  pass  into  an  unhealthy 
extreme.  He  says  plainly  that  he  considers  "  actual 
ritual  developments  so  hastily  adopted,  in  their  novelty, 
multiplication,  and  amount,  as  rash,  unadvisable,  and 
dangerous."  He  deplores  what  seems  to  him  "the 
unquestionable  fact  that  in  some  instances  there  had 
been  a  studied  introduction  of  names  and  usages,  which 
seemed  to  him  to  have  nothing  else  to  commend  them 
than  their  distinctively  Roman  character."  ^  Under  the 
circumstances,  and  in  face  of  the  difficulties  and 
excesses  of  the  time,  the  Bishop  in  his  Charge  lays 
down  four  conditions  under  which  ritual  progress  is 
allowable.  It  must  not,  he  urges,  be  contrary  to  the 
law ;  it  must  not  tend  to  promote  any  false  doctrine  or 
corrupt  practice  ;  it  must  be  at  the  least  not  condemned 
by  living  authority ;  it  must  be  the  gradual  expression 
in  outer  things  of  the  advancement  of  the  Church's 
inward  life. 

In  his  own  diocese  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  proceeded 
successfully  on  the  lines  that  we  have  considered.  He 
advocated  advance  by  ''insensible  gradation  rather 
than  a  studied  display  of  large  and  rapid  change."  He 
tried  to  induce  all  who  were  making  ritual  changes  to 
"lay  their  case  before  their  Bishop,  and  act  absolutely 
on  his  direction."  He  urged  the  necessity  of  consider- 
ing congregations  and  their  wants,  tempers,  and  capa- 
1  Charge  1866,  p.  55.  2  p  45. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  175 


bilities,  and  impressed  the  error  of  trying  to  maintain 
"frozen  uniformity"  in  any  direction.  The  following 
passage  from  his  Charge  shows  the  result — "  It  is  care- 
fully to  be  noted,  that  where  the  Church  movement  itself 
has  been  the  deepest,  there  Ritualistic  extravagances 
have  the  least  appeared.  No  diocese,  perhaps,  from 
various  causes,  has  risen  more  than  that  of  Oxford, 
with  the  general  rise  of  Church  devotion ;  none  has 
been  more  free  from  these  peculiar  excesses." 

A  brief  account  of  Bishop  Wilberforce's  more  public 
labours  in  the  matter  of  Ritualism  will  best  show  how 
he  aimed  at  serving  and  strengthening  the  Church,  by 
retaining  for  her  the  good  in  the  movement,  and  reject- 
ing what  seemed  to  him  the  evil  in  it.  In  1851  Mr. 
Bennett's  proceedings  in  the  London  diocese  first  raised 
the  question  as  to  the  limits  of  ritual  in  the  Church  of 
England.  He  put  forward,  amongst  other  things,  the 
plea  that  omission  in  the  rubrics  of  the  Prayer-book  was 
not  prohibition ;  and  claimed  to  revive  a  great  deal  of 
ceremony  that  had  long  been  in  abeyance,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  inherited  from  the  primitive  Church, 
and  was  not  really  connected  with  Roman  error,  though 
cast  aside  in  the  reactionary  panic  of  the  Reformation. 
At  the  time  Bishop  Wilberforce  expresses  himself  on 
these  points  to  the  Hon.  R.  Cavendish  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone as  follows — "  I  cannot  admit  that  any  individual 
clergyman  has  a  right  to  restore  pre-Reformation 
observances,  merely  because  they  are  not  totidem  verbis 
condemned  by  our  Church."  And  again — "  The  ground 
on  which  the  Bishop  of  London  accepted  Mr.  Bennett's 
resignation,  I  understood  to  be  the  principle  avowed 
by  Mr.  Bennett  of  continual  progression,  combined  with 
an  assertion  of  his  right  to  introduce  any  ceremony 


176 


BISHOP  WII.BERFORCE. 


which  had  ever  been  used  in  the  Church,  and  which 
was  not  expressly  condemned  and  forbidden  at  our 
Reformation.  This  principle  I  also  esteem  to  be  faulty, 
believing  that  our  system  was  intended  to  be  affirm- 
ative and  not  simply  negative,  and  that  it  does  not 
therefore  become  individual  clergymen  to  restore  from 
ante-Reformation  times  whatever  was  not  tofAxhm  verbis 
forbidden."  ^  Ou  these  grounds  Bishop  Wilberforce  joined 
in  the  united  pastoral  issued  by  the  Bishops  in  1851, 
protesting  against  Mr.  Bennett's  point  of  view,  and 
specially  his  way  of  asserting  it. 

Meanwhile  till  1867  the  Ritualistic  development 
went  on;  and  was  at  once  restrained  and  encouraged 
in  the  Oxford  diocese,  where  the  Bishop  recognized 
that,  in  such  things  as  choral  services,  surpliced  choirs, 
Church  decorations,  using  of  hymns,  things  lawful  and 
helpful  were  being  revived.  Of  course,  to  the  school 
represented  by  the  Record,  improvements  in  the 
service  in  the  direction  of  legitimate  increases  of  ritual 
seemed  dangerous,  and  its  adherents  felt  bound  to 
resist  them.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  however,  while 
expressing  his  utter  disapproval  of  all  attempts  to 
introduce  "unusual  Ritualistic  developments,"  saw  that, 
in  many  cases,  laity  and  clergy  alike  were  ripe  and  ready 
for  some  ceremonial  changes  and  restorations.  This 
might  well  be,  he  maintained,  where  there  was  no 
revival  of  the  obsolete,  without  the  allowance  of  living 
authority,  and  where,  in  the  case  of  a  parish  linked  by 
long  tradition  to  a  lower  but  lawful  use,  "  there  was 
no  arbitrary  alteration  for  the  pastor's  pleasure  to  the 
wounding  of  his  flock."  ^  At  the  same  time  in  his 
charges,  and  by  his  own  practice,  he  directed  obedience 
1  Life,  ii.  pp.  126-7.  ^  p.  197. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT. 


177 


to  the  decisions,  on  points  of  ritual,  of  the  highest 
court  of  appeal  in  causes  ecclesiastical.  Thus  we 
have  the  following  passage  in  his  Charge  for  1857 — 
"  The  peace  which  God's  mercy  has  given  to  us  in  this 
diocese  on  these  matters  (i.e.  questions  of  ritual)  makes 
it  needful  for  me  to  speak  but  of  two  points,  in  the  late 
judgment,  as  to  which  my  own  observations  would 
lead  me  to  think  that  in  our  conduct  of  our  public 
services  we  are  violating,  in  some  of  our  parishes,  what 
we  are  now  authoritatively  reminded  is  the  plain  and 
express  law  of  this  Church  and  realm;  and  to  obey 
which,  now  that  it  is  so  pointed  out,  we  of  the  clergy 
are  in  conscience  bound  by  our  oaths  and  promises  at 
our  ordination,  licensing,  or  institution."  In  the  spirit 
here  indicated  Bishop  Wilberforce,  after  the  Martin  v. 
Mackonochie  judgment,  changed  the  position  in  which 
he  had  previously  stood ;  and,  during  the  Consecration 
Prayer  in  the  office  for  Holy  Communion,  stood  in  front 
of  the  Table.  When  again  at  a  later  time  the  point 
was  otherwise  decided,  the  Bishop,  in  obedience  to  the 
law,  reverted  to  his  original  position  at  the  north  end. 
The  Bishop's  action  in  his  own  diocese  showed  a 
mode  by  which,  if  all  could  have  agreed  to  act  on  it, 
without  the  dangers  of  legislation  and  judicial  decisions, 
the  worst  difficulties  occasioned  by  Ritualistic  extra- 
vagances might  have  been  obviated  and  controlled  to 
the  great  advantage  of  the  Church,  and  the  furthering 
and  advancement  of  her  most  important  influence 
and  work. 

But  a  general  consensus  on  the  matter  was  by  no 
means  easy  to  obtain.  What  must  be  described  as  the 
puritanical  spirit  was  strong  in  England,  objecting  to 
the    Church's  whole  system   of   external   rites  and 


178 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


ceremonies,  and  regarding,  as  Bishop  Wilberforce  says, 
"  our  limited  customary  rites  as  an  essential  part  of 
our  protest  against  Popery."  It  was  a  perplexity  that 
some  of  the  bishops  themselves  were  not  free  from 
this  spirit ;  and,  while  there  were  dioceses  in  which 
Churchmen  were  not  at  all  ready  to  defer  to  the  "  living 
authority "  placed  at  their  head,  divided  counsels 
prevailed  on  the  bench  of  bishops  itself.  By  1866  it 
had  become  plain  that'  in  the  opposition  and  apprehen- 
sion excited  by  a  not  uncommon  display  of  large  and 
rapid  changes  in  ritual  of  an  extreme  character,  some- 
thing must  be  done.  There  was  great  danger  lest 
attempts  might  be  made  to  bind  the  Church  of  England 
down  to  a  rigid  minimum  in  the  matter,  which  might 
lead  to  the  loss  of  some  of  the  most  earnest  of  her 
sous.  In  his  Charge  for  1866,  Bishop  Wilberforce 
expresses,  in  the  following  passage,  this  difficulty — 
"  We  are  bound  to  admit  that  amongst  the  clergy  and 
laity  (for  this  has  been  anything  but  an  exclusively 
clerical  movement),  who  are  conspicuous  for  the  intro- 
duction of  these  novelties,  are  men  inferior  to  none  in 
self-devotion,  in  apparent  love  to  Christ,  in  tenderness 
towards  His  poor,  in  zeal  for  His  truth,  or  in  the  fervour 
of  their  own  devotion.  Such  men  we  can  ill  afford  to 
lose.  I  trust  that  no  taunts  from  without,  and  no 
timorousness  within,  will  lead  any  of  the  rulers  of  our 
Church  to  aid  in  driving  out  any  one  who  can,  con- 
sistently with  truth  and  faithfulness,  be  kept  amongst 
us,  lest  we  repeat  again  our  fathers'  fault,  and  lose  our 
brethren,  as  they  lost  John  Wesley,  and  his  noble 
fellows."  It  was  this  that  he  strove  to  prevent.  The 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  in  1866  asked  the  Upper 
House  to  take  steps,  in  conjunction  with  them,  fur 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  179 


"  clearing  the  doubts  and  allaying  the  anxieties  that 
existed  on  the  subject  of  Ritualism."  As  a  result,  a 
committee  was  appointed,  which  reported  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  deprecating  attempts  to  establish  a  uniformity 
of  ritual  practice,  "  incompatible  with  the  power,  which 
had  ever  existed  in  the  Church,  of  permitting  differences 
of  practice,  according  to  the  different  circumstances 
and  requirements  of  different  times,  places,  and  con- 
gregations." The  report  further  suggested,  that 
differences  of  ritual  practice,  within  the  limits  of  the 
law,  ought  to  be  regulated  by  resort  to  the  fatherly 
counsel  of  the  bishop,  and  dutiful  acquiescence  in  his 
suggestions,  and  also  by  "  discreet  and  charitable  con- 
sideration of  the  circumstances  of  different  places  and 
congregations."  This  was  endorsed  by  the  Upper 
House,  and  runs  very  much  on  the  lines  on  which 
Bishop  Wilberforce  acted  in  his  own  diocese,  and  which 
he  laid  down  in  his  charge. 

Meanwhile  other  action  was  being  taken,  by  way  of 
legislation  through  Parliament,  without  any  previous 
consultation  of  Convocation.  Bishop  Wilberforce 
thought  any  legislation  just  then  dangerous;  but  that 
proposed,  ignoring,  as  it  did,  the  Church's  voice  and 
opinion,  seemed  to  him  absolutely  fatal,  a  surrender  of 
much  that  had  been  laboriously  gained,  and  certain  to 
cause  a  secession  from  the  Church.  He  did  a  great 
service  in  averting  it,  and  preventing  any  new  depart- 
ure, even  though  it  was  done  at  the  cost  of  preserving 
the,  not  very  satisfactory,  status  in  quo  ante. 

In  18G.5  the  Archbishop  was  .stirred  up  to  some 
action  by  the  Manpiis  of  Westuieath  calling  attention 
in  the  House  of  Lords  to  alleged  innovations  in  the 
Anglican  service.    He  desired  to  issue  an  address  to  the 


180 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


clergy,  signed  by  all  the  bishops,  but  by  the  advice  of  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  getting 
anything  signed  by  all  the  bishops  which  was  not  very 
general  indeed  in  its  character,  this  was  not  done.  Some 
of  the  bishops  were  for  trying  a  test  case ;  some  were 
for  "  fatherly  counsel "  ;  some  for  legislation ;  and  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation  were  set  out  in  a  remark 
of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter — "  If  you  try  to  enforce  the 
rubric,  you  will  have  a  rebellion ;  try  to  alter  it,  and  you 
will  cause  a  shipwreck." 

At  this  time,  as  before,  in  matters  touching  the  in- 
terests of  the  Church,  Bishop  Wilberforce  consulted  much 
with  Mr.  Gladstone,  following  largely  his  advice,  and 
relying  on  his  political  influence  for  support  of  wise 
measures.  The  great  problem  was  how  to  prevent  legis- 
lation, which  would  fetter  the  Church,  and  hopelessly 
alienate  many  staunch  Churchmen.  The  gist  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  opinion  on  this  matter  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  paragraph — "  I  am  against  attempts, 
in  present  circumstances,  to  define  ritual  too  much  by 
quantity ;  it  is  quality,  proportion,  relation,  which 
seem  to  me  to  have  the  true  claim  to  regard.  I  do  not 
think  you  can  define  the  maximum  of  true  legitimate 
demand ;  which,  under  much  of  the  existing  demand, 
in  appearance  moderate,  may  notwithstanding  be  quite 
illegitimate."  Bishop  Wilberforce's  own  ideas  on  these 
matters  are  expressed  fully  in  his  Charge  for  1866.  In 
his  diocese,  and  with  the  Archbishop,  his  words  were 
generally  approved,  though  a  small  section  sent  an 
address  to  the  Bishop,  complaining  of  "his  Lordship's 
elaborate,  but,  in  their  judgment,  singularly  ambiguous 
and  unsatisfactory  charge," -"^  His  efforts,  after  this 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  203. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  181 


plain  expression  of  his  opinions,  were  directed  towards 
preventing  any  hasty  and  unwise  legislation.  The 
result  has  been,  largely  through  his  influence,  that  the 
matter,  as  far  as  legislation  goes,  has  practically  been 
left  alone — the  only  safe  course,  when  desirable 
changes  and  interpretations  must  inevitably  have  been 
balanced  by  most  undesirable  ones. 

An  extract  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone  shows  the 
first  difficulty  which  Bishop  Wilberforce  had  to  face  and 
overcome.  The  letter  asks  for  Mr.  Gladstone's  interven- 
tion with  the  Archbishop  to  prevent  the  evil  of  the 
bishops  coming  with  a  gagging  bill  before  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  passage  in  question  runs  thus — "  Last 
Monday  it  transpired  that  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  printed 
and  proposed  to  read  at  once  a  first  time  a  bill,  drawn 
by  A.  J.  Stephens,  for  making  the  58th  canon  the 
absolute  and  sole  rule  of  the  Church  of  England  as  to 
ornaments,  dresses,  etc.,  throwing  over  the  rights  of 
congregations,  the  discretion  of  bishops,  and  the  liberty 
of  the  Church  for  all  future  expansion.  .  .  .  The 
Archbishop  called  a  meeting  of  the  bishops  next  day, 
at  which  it  at  once  appeared  that  the  whole  phalanx 
of  Archbishop  and  bishops  from  the  north,  and  all  the 
puritan  bishops  were  hot  for  it — only  three  of  us 
opposed  it.  Worst  of  all,  our  own  Archbishop,  though 
he  did  not  like  it,  '  did  not  see  how  he  could  oppose  it.' 
I  set  before  them  at  length  the  ignominy  of  the  course, 
its  shameless  party  spirit,  the  suicide  of  the  English 
episcopate  being  dragged  at  the  tail  of  Sliaftesbury ; 
and  I  so  far  succeeded  that  the  bishops  in  league  with 
Shaftesbury  said  that,  if  the  Archbishop  would  undertake 
to  legislate,  they  would  persuade  Shaftesbury  to  wait."  ^ 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  206. 


LS2 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


The  alternative  seemed  to  Bishop  Wilberforce  bad 
enough  ;  it  was  almost  worse  that  the  Archbishop  should 
legislate,  as  it  made  even  more  offensive  to  many  "  the 
going  to  Parliament  without  Convocation  to  alter  a 
leading  rubric  governing  all  the  ornaments  and  ofScial 
vesture  of  the  Church  of  England."  After  statin^  his 
views  and  apprehensions  plainly  to  the  Archbishop,  he 
asked  Mr.  Gladstone  to  use  his  influence  to  prevent  the 
Archbishop  and  other  bishops  proceeding  on  the  lines 
proposed,  either  by  supporting  Lord  Shaftesbury,  or 
bringing  in  another  bill.  Mr.  Gladstone  deprecated  the 
raising  of  the  questions  in  the  House  of  Commons  that 
the  bringing  in  of  any  such  bills  would  involve,  and 
said  that  he  feared  the  introduction  of  them  would 
throw  him  into  a  "  very  anti-episcopal  position."  His 
letter  also  mentions  that  he  had  interviewed  the  two 
Archbishops  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  left  them  in 
mind  "  to  drop  the  bill  and  propose  a  commission."  Lord 
Shaftesbury  did  move  the  second  reading  of  his  bill  in 
May  1867,  but  an  amendment,  moved  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  supported  by  Bishop  Wilberforce, 
postponing  the  second  reading  till  that  day  two  months, 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  fifteen,  eleven  bishops  voting 
in  the  minority.  The  bill  was  not  brought  on  again,  and 
expired  with  the  session ;  but  the  entry  in  the  Bishop's 
diary  for  the  day  is  significant  as  to  the  peril  of  the 
moment — "  Lord  Derby  having  sent  Lord  Malmesbury 
to  me  to  say  that  the  whips  reported  that  he  was  in  a 
minority,  and  must  give  up,  I  protested.  Carried  by  a 
good  majority  of  fifteen." 

Thus  this  danger  was  passed,  and  a  Royal  Commission 
on  Ritual  appointed  in  1867  by  Lord  Derby's  Govern- 
ment. The  Bishop  of  Oxford  was  desirous  that  it  should 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  183 


be  instructed  to  inquire  only  into  the  ornaments  rubric, 
and  that  something  sliould  be  said  in  the  Commission  as 
to  the  results  of  its  labours  being  submitted  afterwards 
to  Convocation.  He  wrote  to  Sir  C.  Anderson  in  March 
1867--"!  have  no  patience  with  our  being  driven  to 
legislate,  to  put  ourselves  in  the  utteidy  false  position  of 
asking  for  more  power  from  the  House  of  Commons." 
His  views  were  not  accepted  by  the  Government;  it 
was  determined  to  examine  all  the  rubrics,  and  also 
the  Lectionary,  and  no  mention  was  made,  in  the 
(Commission,  of  Convocation.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  how- 
ever, that  the  two  pieces  of  legislation  that  followed 
on  this  report — the  Act  of  Uniformity  Amendment 
Act  of  1872,  and  the  Prayer-Book  Act  of  1872— 
allowing  the  shortening  of  services,  and  revising  the 
Lectionary,  were  approved  by  Convocation,  before  coming 
into  Parliament.  After  the  last  report  of  the  Ritual 
Commission,  the  Crown  took  the  important  step  of 
recognizing  the  several  Convocations  so  far  as  to  issue 
to  them  letters  of  business,  authorizing  them  to  consider, 
and  report  on,  the  final  recommendations  of  the  Com- 
mission. Thus  the  thing  which  Bishop  Wilberforce 
stood  almost  alone  in  asking  for  the  Church's  satis- 
faction at  first  was,  in  effect,  granted  at  last. 

Some  difficulty  arose  about  Bishop  Wilberforce 
becoming  a  member  of  the  Commission.  Mr.  Walpole, 
in  inviting  him  to  serve  on  it,  said  that,  without  him,  it 
would  be  the  drama  of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out ; 
and  Lord  Shaftesbury  said  in  the  House  of  Lords  that, 
as  he  himself  refused  to  serve  on  it  as  an  extreme  man, 
extreme  men,  like  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  ought  to  keep 
of?  it  too.  The  Bishop's  reply  contained  the  following 
words — "  It  is  very  easy  for  the  noble  Lord  to  attack 


184 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


me,  though  he  knows  I  have  no  extreme  views,  and 
though  he  confesses  that  he  is  himself  an  extreme  man. 
I  am  not  an  extreme  man.  I  am  one  who  holds  that 
middle  position  as  to  doctrine  in  the  Church  that 
Richard  Hooker  held."  Ultimately  he  was  on  the 
Commission,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  its  work, 
and  exercised  a  large  influence  over  its  report.  The 
first  report  was  issued  on  August  19th,  after  nineteen 
sittings,  and  the  draft  that  was  accepted,  though 
nominally  the  work  of  Mr.  Hubbard,  was  really  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford's,  as  the  following  extract  from  his 
diary  for  August  19th  shows — "  Ritual  Commission. 
Long  debate  on  draft  report  I  had  drawn  up  on  Tuesday, 
13th,  and  given  Hubbard  to  circulate;  substantially 
adopted."  His  influence,  as  Lord  Beauchamp  testifies, 
had  immensely  determined  the  issue.  "I  fully  recog- 
nize," he  writes,  "  the  discretion  and  skill  with  which  you 
have  steered  us.  How  others  could  have  been  brought 
to  agree  I  cannot  divine.  Our  escape  has  been  marvel- 
lous." By  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  suggestion,  the  report 
stated  that  "it  was  expedient  to  restrain  in  the  public 
services  of  the  united  Church  of  England  and  Ireland, 
all  variation  in  respect  of  vesture  from  that  which  has 
long  been  the  established  usage  of  the  said  United 
Church."  The  word  used  did  not  make  the  vestments 
in  themselves  illegal ;  every  allusion  to  doctrine  was 
carefully  shut  out  of  the  report,  and  Dr.  Pusey's 
statement,  "  that  it  was  a  complete  defeat,  and  that  it 
would  have  been  better  to  have  had  all  Shaftesbury's 
bill  and  let  him  do  his  worst,"  shows  that  its  elasticity  was 
hardly  appreciated  on  the  High  Church  side.  When  the 
second  report  was  issued  in  1868,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
dissented  from  a  clause  in  it  that  recommended  that  the 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  185 


usage  of  the  Church  of  England  and  Ireland  for  the  last 
tltree  hundred  and  sixty  years  should  be  deemed  the 
rule  of  the  Church  in  respect  of  vestments,  lights,  and 
incense.  It  was  wrong,  he  thought,  to  attempt  to 
stereotype  by  legislation  for  perpetual  observance  any 
use  not  actually  enjoined  in  matters  ceremonial.  In 
the  fourth  and  last  report  Bishop  Wilberforce,  then 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  was  one  of  those  who  signed 
with  reservation  ;  and  many  of  his  fellow  commissioners 
on  this  occasion  dissented  from  the  report  on  various 
grounds.  His  attitude  a?  regards  the  question  raised 
on  the  subject  of  the  position  of  the  Athanasian  Creed 
in  the  services  of  the  Church,  has  been  already  dis- 
cussed. It  showed  him  anxious  to  prevent  secession 
from  the  Church  on  the  one  hand,  and  rigid  legislation 
on  the  other,  in  accordance  with  the  policy  that  he 
had  favoured  on  the  ritual  question  from  the  time 
when  it  was  first  agitated.  On  the  whole,  he  obtained 
such  a  measure  of  success,  that  he  once  again  secured 
for  the  Church,  during  his  lifetime,  a  fair  measure  of 
justice  and  liberty. 

As  he  was  in  1851  in  this  matter  so  was  he  in  1866, 
and  so  was  he  in  1873.  Dean  Burgon  quotes  from  his 
last  address  to  his  rural  deans,  delivered  shortly  before 
his  death  in  1873,  as  a  clear  proof  that  with  Ritualistic 
teaching  he  had  no  sympathy.  He  tells  us  in  the 
following  passage  some  of  the  Bishop's  feelings  in  this 
matter — "  Sometimes  he  would  express  his  secret 
personal  dislike  to  the  very  environments  of  the  party 
with  a  grotesque  fervour  which  was  irresistible.  '  I 
suspect,'  I  once  said  to  him,  'you  like  embroidered 
stoles,  surplices  cut  short  at  the  waist,  Gregorian 
chants,  and  so  on  ? '     '  /  like  Gregorian  music  ! '  he 


186 


inSIIOP  WILBERFORCE. 


exclaimed,  with  a  look  of  mingled  terror  and  annoy- 
ance. '  I  assure  you  I  never  hear  a  Gregorian  with- 
out feeling  a  wish  to  lie  down  ou  my  stomach  and 
howl!  "  1 

The  address  referred  to  speaks  plainly  of  the  teach- 
ing that  habitual  confession  is  almost  necessary  for  the 
leading  of  the  higher  Christian  life,  as  dangerous  to  the 
penitent,  to  the  peace  and  confidence  of  family  life,  and 
to  the  confessor's  own  purity  of  thouglit.^  It  condemns 
the  new  doctrine  of  fasting  Communion,  and  the 
growing  practice  of  non-communicating  attendance  as 
leadin'j^  to  the  great  abuse  "  of  coming  to  tlie  sacrament 
to  be  spectators  instead  of  partakers."  "  Thus,"  says  the 
Bishop,  "  the  Roman  theory  is  creeping  in.  The 
sacrificing  priest  stands  between  your  soul  and  your 
God  and  makes  atonement  for  you."  A  strong  passage, 
quoted  also  by  Dean  Burgon,  from  this  same  last 
utterance,  may  fitly  close  this  brief  account  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  dealings  with  the  Ritualistic  movement.  It 
runs  thus — "  There  is  a  growing  feeling,  which  I  can  only 
describe  as  an  '  ashamedness '  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
as  if  our  grand  old  Anglican  Communion  contrasted 
unfavourably  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  habitual 
language  held  by  many  men  sounds  as  if  they  were 
ashamed  of  our  Church  and  its  position ;  it  is  a  sort  of 
apology  for  the  Church  of  England,  as  compared  with 
tlie  Church  of  Rome.    Why  I  would  as  soon  think 

OF  APOLOGIZING  FOR  THE  VIRTUE  OF  MY  MOTHER  TO  A 

HARLOT !  I  have  no  sympathy  in  the  world  with  such 
a  feeling.  I  abhor  this  fidgety  desire  to  make  every- 
thing un-Anglican.  This  is  not  a  grand  development 
as  some  seem  to  think.  It  is  a  decrepitude.  It  is  not 
1  Lives  of  Twelve  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  59.        ^  Iljid.  ii.  pp.  55-7. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  187 


snmetliing  very  sublime  and  impressive,  but  something 
very  feeble  and  contemptible."  ^ 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that,  all  through  the  difficulties 
we  have  just  considered,  Bishop  Wilberforce  felt  that 
unwise  and  unlawful  actions  from  within  the  Church, 
met  by  sharp  repressive  measures  from  the  State 
without,  might  do  much  to  imperil  the  Establish- 
ment. In  the  opening  of  an  article  on  "The  Church 
and  her  Curates,"  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  1867, 
he  notices  how  the  "electric"  temper  of  the  times 
threatens  the  testing  anew,  by  searching  popular 
inquiry,  of  some  of  the  noblest  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  that  among  these  the  Established  Church 
stood  perhaps  in  the  fore-front.  In  the  same  article 
the  Bishop  writes,  half-humorously,  the  following 
words — "An  electric  condition  of  the  air  quickens 
into  a  very  troublesome  activity  all  the  lower  forms  of 
animal  life ;  and  speculators  and  nostrum-mongers,  and 
men  of  one  idea,  are  always  excited  by  a  thundery 
state  of  the  political  and  social  atmosphere.  Societies 
for  the  Revision  of  the  Prayei'-Book,  and  Anti-State 
Church  Societies,  and  Liberation  Societies,  and  the  like, 
feel  that  their  time  is  come,  and  begin  buzzing  about 
amidst  the  larger  and  more  highly  animated  organiz- 
ations which  they  so  pertinaciously  infest,  and  stinging 
or  irritating  all  whom  they  can  reach."  2  The  Bishop 
felt  that  the  position  of  the  Dissenters  towards  the 
Established  Church  was,  by  force  of  circumstances,  now 
changed.  The  time  was  past  when  the  Dissenters  were 
asking  for  equal  civil  rights,  and  the  removal  of  tests 
injurious  to  their  conscience.    Writing  to  Mr.  Gladstone 

1  Lives  of  Twelve  Good  Men,  ii.  pp.  58-9. 
^  Essays,  ii.  pp.  85-6. 


188 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


in  1863,  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Hadfield's  bill,  which 
proposed  to  abolish  the  declaration  made  by  mayors, 
that  they  would  not  use  their  office  against  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  the  Bishop  explains  that  he  cannot 
support  it,  and  adds — "  They  (the  Dissenters)  are  now 
professedly  seeking,  not  for  freedom  for  themselves,  but 
the  abolition  of  the  Establishment ;  wherever,  therefore, 
they  ask  for  what  tends  only  to  that,  we  are  bound  to 
refuse."  ^  In  the  same  correspondence  also  he  states 
that  he  is  unable  to  admit  that  the  bishops  of  the 
Church  of  England  could  take  the  ground  that  "  their 
strength  lay  in  the  affection  of  the  people,  and  not  in 
the  legal  defences  of  an  Establishment."  This  would  be 
in  effect  to  admit  that  they  belonged  to  the  strongest 
sect,  and  not  to  claim  to  be,  what  they  were,  the 
national  Church.  The  relation  that  seemed  to  him  to 
exist  between  Church  and  State  was  the  result  of  a 
concordat  between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Realm. 
Changes,  then,  which  affected  the  national  Church,  were 
only  to  be  made  constitutionally,  after  consultation  with 
the  clergy,  through  Convocation,  since  her  existing 
system  is  the  resiilt  of  the  joint  assents  of  the  clergy, 
the  laity,  and  the  Crown  of  England.  The  following 
passage  from  a  speech  made  at  Hastings  in  1864 
puts  clearly  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  ideas  as  to  the 
charge,  duties,  and  position,  that  he  conceived  the 
nation  to  have  intrusted  to  the  Church  of  England  in 
its  establishment.  "  By  the  providence  of  God  this 
much  is  certain,  and  must  be  admitted  by  every  one, 
that  the  Church  of  England,  as  treated  at  present  by 
the  State  and  the  nation,  is  the  religious  teacher  of  the 
people.  Mark  you  that  this  is  so.  There  has  been 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  80. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  189 


given,  and  I  think  very  properly  given,  perfect  liberty 
to  all  other  religious  bodies,  and  I  for  one  would  not  see 
that  liberty  infringed  by  prerogative  or  other  legislation 
in  the  least  degree.  But  that  is  not  in  the  least  degree 
giving  up  the  claim  that  the  Church  of  England  is  the 
teacher  of  the  people.  ...  If  you  ask  me  how  I  can 
say  that  the  Church  of  England  is  the  only  Apostolic 
Church  in  the  land,  I  say  that  she  only  possesses  the 
two  qualifications,  perfectness  of  organization  in  a 
transmitted  line  of  authorized  teachers  from  the  Apostles, 
as  apostles  from  the  Lord,  combining  with  that  the  true 
transmission  of  the  primitive  doctrine.  The  Church 
of  Rome,  as  I  maintain,  failed  on  both  sides.  .  ."  ^ 
In  his  Charge  for  1866,  he  refers  to  the  mischievous 
fallacy  that  made  many  think  that,  because  our  Church 
was  a  national  Church,  the  nation  was  entitled  to  settle 
its  doctrine.  The  compact  between  the  Church  and 
State  was  not,  in  the  Bishop's  view,  that  the  Church 
shall  be  the  State's  instrument  for  teaching  what  the 
State  shall  from  time  to  time  approve,  but  the  teacher 
for  the  State  of  that  which  she  has  already  convinced 
the  State  is — "  the  Truth."  Accordingly,  if  any  new  forms 
of  error  ever  made  new  definitions  of  the  faith  needful, 
not  to  change,  but  to  secure  the  continued  sameness  of 
the  Church's  teaching,  it  was  necessary  that  both  parties 
to  the  contract  must  agree  to  such  an  alteration  before  it 
could  justly  be  enforced.  The  Cliurch  must  propose  these 
definitions  in  her  Convocations,  and  the  State  assent 
to  them  in  her  Parliaments.  Church  questions,  then, 
coming  up  in  the  law  courts  of  the  realm,  look  to  have 
it  settled  what  the  law  in  the  matter  under  consideration 
is,  and  not  what  it  ought  to  be.  What  is  to  be  decided 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  150. 


190 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


there  is  whether,  for  instance,  a  teacher,  against  whose 
teaching  complaint  has  been  made,  has  or  has  not 
taught  against  that  old  truth  which  the  Church 
covenanted  to  declare,  and  the  State  covenanted 
to  receive.  There  was  during  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
episcopacy,  again  and  again,  ground  for  fearing  that  the 
concordat  that  bound  together  Church  and  State  might 
come  to  an  end.  He  often  expresses  his  own  view  that 
it  was  quite  possible  that  the  evil  day  for  the  peace 
and  the  religion  of  the  land  might  come,  which  should 
sever  from  each  other  the  Church  and  State  of 
England.  Writing  to  Mr.  Gladstone  in  1853,  he 
expresses  his  opinion  that,  if  the  Irish  Church  is 
to  remain  established,  she  must  needs  show  that  she 
is  the  Irish  Church.  The  question  of  her  being  kept 
in  alliance  with  the  State  turns,  he  sees,  on  her 
efficiency  most  of  all,  however  good  her  title,  how- 
ever pure  her  succession,  however  strong  her  legal 
position.  So  it  was  that  he  did  all  he  could  to  in- 
crease the  efficiency  of  the  Church  in  England.  In 
bis  Charge,  delivered  in  1863,  he  notes  with  satisfac- 
tion the  encouraging  change  in  the  mind  of  the  British 
Parliament  towards  the  Church.  This  he  attributes  to 
the  marks  of  life  and  vigour  so  obviously  shown  in  the 
Church  herself;  and  it  is  plain  that  he  always  felt  very 
strongly  that  the  best,  and  really  the  only,  defence  for 
the  Church  is  to  be  found  in  her  devotion,  efficiency, 
and  usefulness.  Many  changes,  such  as  the  Divorce 
Act,  and  the  Deceased  Wife's  Sister  Bill,  and  the 
claims  for  an  undenominational  elementary  education, 
brought  embarrassment  and  perplexity  in  the  relations 
that  existed  between  the  Church  of  England  and  the 
State  of  England.    While  these  difficulties  could  not. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  191 


in  liis  opinion,  be  ignored  or  compromised,  they  need 
not  prevent  the  machinery  from  working  on,  and,  in 
working  on,  finding  strength  and  power  and  hberty  for 
more  work  still. 

The  question  of  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church  came  on  in  18G9,  and  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
proceedings  in  the  matter  illustrate  to  some  extent 
the  views  that  he  held  on  the  Establishment  question 
generally.  At  first  he  was  opposed  to  it,  though 
apparently  accepting  Archbishop  Trench's  opinion  that 
if,  after  a  struggle,  the  Irish  Establishment  could  not 
be  maintained,  and  Disraeli's  proposal  of  cutting  it 
down  to  small  dimensions  seemed  sure  to  prevail,  it 
would  be  better  to  go  in  for  "  instant  death  at  the 
hands  of  Gladstone,  than  Disraeli's  process  of  gradual 
starvation."  Thus  both  in  Parliament,  and  outside 
in  public  meetings,  he  did  all  he  could  against  it. 
When,  moreover,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  carried  his  reso- 
lutions in  the  House  of  Commons,  he  was  one  of 
those  who  opposed  the  Suspensory  Bill  which  was, 
though  carried  in  the  House  of  Commons,  thrown 
out  in  the  House  of  Lords.  After  this,  when  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  appealed  to  the  country  on  the  question, 
and  been  returned  to  power  with  a  large  majority, 
his  opposition  died  away.  He  told  Archbisliop  Trench 
that  the  time  had  come  to  consider  "  whether  any 
and  what  compromise  was  possible."  ^  In  opposing 
the  Suspensory  Bill  in  the  House  of  Lords,  Bishop 
Wilberforce  had  argued  that,  "  as  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  disestablishment,  the  nation  ought  to  have 
declared  in  favour  of  such  a  course."  This  had  now 
been  done  in  a  very  distinct  and  emphatic  way,  and 
1  Life,  iii.  \>. 

I 


192 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


though  personally  he  could  have  wished  it  other- 
wise, he  now  used  his  influence  to  induce  the  Irish 
archbishops  and  bishops  so  to  act  that,  in  the  dis- 
endownient  matter  which  followed,  they  might  profit 
by  Mr.  Gladstone's  Churchmanship,  and  get  the  most 
liberal  and  generous  terms  possible.  In  this  matter  he 
was  disposed  to  fight  to  the  end  that  endowments  once 
given  to  the  Church  were  henceforth  Church  property, 
and  ought  not  to  be  alienated  from  that  Church  for 
any  purpose  whatever.  Ultimately  the  Bishop  did  not 
speak  or  vote  against  the  second  reading  of  the  Irish 
Churcli  Bill ;  and  in  the  committee  stage  explained  his 
action  by  stating  that,  in  his  opinion,  that  matter  had 
been  settled  by  the  answer  of  the  constituencies. 

On  the  subject  of  this  answer  he  wrote  a  pamphlet, 
which  however  he  did  not  publish,  partly  because  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  advice,  and  partly  because  he  was  told 
that  Archbishop  Trench  eagerly  deprecated  his  doing 
so,  and  would  regard  it  as  "  an  act  of  most  injurious 
hostility,  which  would  stir  up  widespread  wrath,  and 
probably  require  his  answering  it  in  a  tone  which 
would  make  all  future  negotiations  more  difficult."  i 
In  the  discussions  on  tlie  subject.  Bishop  Wilberforce 
said  that  "of  one  thing  he  was  convinced — that  while 
an  Establisliment  is  to  a  particular  Church  in  many 
ways  a  blessing  unspeakable,  no  Church  which  cannot 
stand  without  an  Establishment  is  worth  being  estab- 
lished." He  looked  forward,  he  said,  moreover,  much 
as  he  lamented  the  present  blow,  to  the  Irish  Church 
showing  herself  in  the  future  "  the  true  Catholic 
Church  in  Ireland,  rising  into  greatness,  and  leavening 
more  than  she  had  yet  done  the  bulk  of  the  population." 
1  Life,  iii.  p.  283.  2  j;,,^/       p_  290. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  193 


His  action  on  this  occasion  did  not  escape  the  severest 
criticism  from  Churchmen  and  his  intimate  friends. 
He  was  even  said  "  to  have  been  influenced  "  (to  quote 
his  own  words  from  a  letter  of  defence  written  to  the 
Rev.  H.  Majendie)  "by  a  miserable  desire  to  get  the 
denuded  See  of  Winchester."  Perhaps,  however,  strange 
as  his  action  seemed,  it  did  but  illustrate  his  theory 
that  the  much-to-be-desired  concordat  between  Church 
and  State,  called  Establishment,  could  not  be  rightly 
maintained,  when  one  of  the  parties  concerned  had 
declared  against  it ;  and  he  attributed  the  unfavourable 
verdict  of  the  constituencies  on  the  Irish  Church  ques- 
tion to  the  fact  that,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  she  had 
not  been  able  to  make  herself  the  Church  of  Ireland. 
His  labour  was  that  the  Church  of  England  might  not, 
by  a  like  failure,  incur  a  like  disability. 

His  ideas  on  the  Establishment  question  also 
governed  his  ideas  concerning  home  reunion  and  the 
reunion  of  Christendom.  He  longed  for  both,  and  as 
in  his  younger  days  he  had  hoped  for  a  reunion  with 
the  Church  in  Prussia,  so  also  he  longed  for  reunion 
with  the  great  Eastern  Church.  Some  of  his  aspira- 
tions in  the  matter  are  to  be  found  in  his  Charge  for 
1866.  As  regards  the  home  separation,  he  declares  that 
he  sees  no  formal  differences  of  the  faith  which  need 
hopelessly  part  Churchmen  and  Nonconformists ;  and 
that  time  has  to  a  great  degree  worn  away  the  causes  of 
existing  division.  As  regards  the  Eastern  Church,  he 
writes — "  Old  ways,  old  thoughts,  old  words,  seem 
indeed  to  hang  unchangeable,  as  in  a  charmed  air, 
throughout  the  venerable  East ;  and  many  of  these  are 
diverse  from  ours.  Still  the  East  is  bound  to  no  irre- 
versible sequence  of  developed  corruptions  of  the  One 

o 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


Faith,  and  with  Her  it  may  be  that  we  may  again  open 
intercommunion."  But  he  goes  on  then  to  add  the 
following  words — "  Earnestly  as  we  may  long  and  pray 
for  unity,  we  can  make  no  overtures  for  it  to  any  whose 
first  principle  is  the  absolute  retention  of  what  we  hold 
to  be  grave  error  in  doctrine  and  in  practice.  I  see  not 
how  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  this  must  make,  at 
present,  impossible  all  such  overtures  from  us  to  Rome."^ 
But  with  every  desire  for  reunion,  and  with  a  capacity, 
as  various  occasions  in  his  ministry  showed,  for  living 
on  good  terms  with  men  of  other  denominations,  Bishop 
Wilberforce  would  -neither  abate  any  of  the  claims  of 
the  Church  of  England  to  be  the  authorized  religious 
teacher  of  the  realm,  nor  favour  any  of  the  "compre- 
hension schemes,"  that,  in  Prayer-Book  revision,  and 
other  directions,  sought  to  take  into  the  Church  some 
at  least  of  those  who  dissented  from  her  doctrinal 
statements.  "Concessions  so  devised,"  he  writes  in  his 
Charge  for  1860,  "from  a  conviction  of  their  expediency 
as  measures  of  comprehension,  and  not  from  a  belief  in 
their  truth,  would  be  fatal  to  those  who  made,  and 
most  hurtful  to  those  who  accepted,  them.  To  strive 
earnestly  for  the  faith,  as  they  have  received  it,  is  the 
common  duty  of  all  religious  bodies  who  would  not  sink 
into  the  Dead  Sea  of  absolute  unbelief  Such  a  sacrifice 
of  truth  as  has  been  suggested  would  ruin  us,  and  it 
would,  I  am  convinced,  be  most  injurious  to  the  highest 
interests  of  the  Dissenting  bodies  themselves  to  accept  of 
such  concessions  as  the  terms  of  restored  communion."  ^ 
In  the  same  way  he  was  urgent  in  insisting  (and  a 
letter  from  the  Rev.  Newman  Hall  endorses  his  views) 
that  it  was  no  use  concealing  the  fact  that  real  differ- 
1  Charge,  1866,  pp.  62-3.  '  Life,  iii.  pp.  152-3. 


RITUALISM  AND  DISESTABLISHMENT.  195 


ences  existed  where  they  did ;  more  was  gained  on  all 
sides  by  a  frank  and  free  acknowledgment,  that  both 
Nonconformists  and  Churchmen  were  what  they  were 
on  principle,  than  by  feeble  attempts  to  make  out  that 
their  separation  did  not  involve  vital  truths.  Once 
again,  he  felt  that  the  best  service  he  could  render  to 
the  cause  of  home  reunion  was  to  do  all  he  could  to 
make  the  Church,  in  her  assertion  of  Church  principles, 
as  thorough  as  possible,  and  to  secure  for  her  liberty 
and  opportunity  for  the  work  which  the  carrying  out  of 
those  principles  necessarily  involved. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY. 

These  pages  have  so  far  aimed  at  indicating  some  of 
the  main  points  and  phases  of  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
career  ;  they  have  tried  to  show  that,  as  Canon  Ashwell 
expresses  it,  "  his  life  was  not  merely  connected  ivith,  but 
actually  involved,  the  history  of  the  English,  and  in 
great  measure  of  the  colonial.  Church  during  his 
episcopate."  Much  remains  that  might  be  said,  but, 
for  limitation  of  space,  must  remain  unsaid.  The 
present  short  and  concluding  chapter  has  for  its  object 
to  speak  shortly  of  the  great  Bishop  of  Oxford's  literary 
labours ;  and  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  personal 
traits  that  enabled  him  to  accomplish  so  much. 

The  Bishop  was  once  twitted  with  the  ease  and 
dignity  that  attached  necessarily  to  his  position.  The 
occasion  was  a  gathering  of  working-men,  where  some, 
at  any  rate,  of  those  present  had  learned  only  from 
past  traditions  of  episcopal  non-residence  and  diocesan 
neglect,  and  where  the  audience  was  inclined  to  think 
that  labour  was  a  thing  unknown,  save  in  the  class  to 
which  they  belonged.  "  I  am,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  as 
much  a  labouring  man  as  any  one  here,  and  I  work 
longer  and  harder  every  day."    Dean  Burgon  has  also 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  197 


remarked  that  lie  "  habitually /wcec?  the  work  of  eighteen, 
if  not  of  twenty-four,  hours  "  into  the  twelve  hours  in 
which  man  ought  to  work.  It  was  but  natural  that,  in 
such  "  a  continuously  active  life,"  little  time  should  have 
been  found  for  the  reading  and  study  which  must  neces- 
sarily lie  behind  any  great  book.  Bishop  Wilberforce's 
pen  was  as  ready  as  his  tongue,  but  he  has  not,  from 
force  of  circumstances,  left  behind  any  great  literary 
monument  of  himself.  His  collected  essays  from  the 
Quarterly  Review,  his  charges,  his  sermons,  his  works, 
written  in  the  more  abundant  leisure  of  Checkendon 
and  Brighstone  days,  show  us  what  he  was  capable  of 
doing,  and  suggest  that  he  might  have  succeeded  here, 
as  in  almost  any  other  department  of  life  upon  which 
he  might  have  entered.  In  that  which  he  has  written 
there  is  shown  a  wonderful  command  of  language,  a 
great  power  of  illustration  and  a  singular  clearness  of 
thought ;  he  can  so  well  appreciate  the  ideas  of  other 
men,  detect  at  once  the  key  to  some  new  intellectual 
position,  expose  a  fallacy,  or  explain  the  strength  or 
weakness  of  an  argument.  At  one  time  he  thought  of 
delivering  a  course  of  Bampton  lectures  ;  he  had  even 
begun  his  reading  for  them,  and  advanced  in  it  to  some 
length,  but  the  death  of  his  wife  brought  this  work  to 
an  untimely  end.  Again  he  was  asked  to  undertake 
the  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterhury,  but  he 
found  it,  on  experiment,  too  great  a  task  for  his  busy 
life,  and  it  fell  into  the  able  hands  of  Dean  Hook. 
Either  of  these  works  might  have  given  him  a  wide 
influence  and  fame  as  a  man  of  letters,  greater  than 
that  which  his  more  ephemeral,  though  nevertheless 
distinguished  and  remarkable,  labours  in  that  direction 
have  secured  for  him.    But,  having  said  this  muoh  of 


198 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


him  as  a  writer,  a  word  must  be  added  about  his 
character  as  a  reader  and  learner.  His  "  readiness  "  in 
later  life  was  the  result  of  much  careful  and  systematic 
reading  in  his  earlier  days.  The  temper  of  his  times 
and  the  general  tone  of  his  countrymen  demanded,  as 
he  often  said,  not  merely  an  earnest  and  active,  but  a 
learned,  clergy.  He  studied  to  understand  the  spirit 
of  his  Church  and  the  spirit  of  the  age  to  which  he  had 
to  present  it ;  and,  to  this  end,  used  his  times  of  com- 
parative leisure,  and  his  odd  moments,  to  gather  inform- 
ation on  all  subjects.  At  the  end  of  a  long  day,  he 
would  take  away  with  him  to  his  bedroom  a  volume  of 
one  of  the  Fathers  which  he  wished  to  consult;  a  visitor 
at  Cuddesdon  observed  in  his  library  a  "  pile  of  the  new- 
est sceptical  books  and  reviews  upon  his  table,  with  each 
salient  passage  in  their  arguments  underlined  and 
commented  upon  in  their  margin  "  ;  he  could  rise  at  six 
to  master  twenty  pages  of  Pttsey  on  Daniel,  which  he  was 
reading  through ;  his  letters  show  that  he  mastered 
strange  subjects  of  interest,  as  he  gave  his  opinion  on 
such  matters  as  mesmerism  and  table-turning.  All 
these  things  indicate  the  cost  to  him  of  that  "  readiness," 
and  wideness  of  view  and  interest,  for  which  he  was 
famed.  They  show  us  how  he  was  able  to  write  all 
those  manifold  and  various  essays,  in  such  a  first-rate 
periodical  as  the  Quarterly,  to  many  of  which  reference 
has  been  made  in  these  pages,  as  a  good  index  of  his 
own  mind  in  many  a  crisis,  and  an  evidence  of  the  im- 
portance men  attached  to  his  utterances,  and  the  help 
they  found  in  them.  The  five  or  six  editions  asked  for 
of  the  number  containing  his  review  of  Essays  and 
Bevie^os  are  a  proof  that  he  had  not  "  shut  himself  up 
at  Cuddesdon  for  a  fortnight,  to  write  it,"  in  vain. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  199 


But,  more  even  than  from  books,  did  Bishop  Wilber- 
force  learn  from  men.  Frank  and  free  intercourse  with 
great  men  of  all  sorts  had  very  much  to  do  with  his 
marvellous  understanding  of  great  questions,  and  his 
insight  into  great  affairs.  He  had  the  advantage  of 
being  able  to  learn  from  rulers  how  to  rule  ;  and  he  was 
by  nature  fitted  to  profit  by,  and  gather  stores  of  lasting 
knowledge  from,  intercourse  with  famous  men.  He 
could  hold  his  own  with  them ;  and  the  quickness  of 
observation  which  made  him  an  interested  and  success- 
ful student  of  natural  history,  made  him  also  an  observer 
of  men's  characters,  and  ready  to  gather  and  retain  the 
suggestions  made  to  him  by  their  information  and  their 
knowledge.  He  was  fond  of  social  intercourse,  and 
almost  unrivalled  in  his  day  as  a  conversationahst ;  while 
he  talked  his  best  himself  he  had  the  power  of  making 
his  audience  talk  their  best  too.  He  loved  to  surround 
himself  with  interesting  people,  and  to  get  them  to 
bring  out,  for  his  own  benefit,  and  that  of  his  guests,  his 
friends,  or  his  company,  the  treasures  of  knowledge  or 
talent  that  made  them  interesting.  Many  stories  are 
told  of  the  silence  of  breathless  attention  that  would 
fall  on  social  gatherings,  in  order  to  hear  sometimes 
Bishop  Wilberforce's  story,  or  some  passage  of  his  talk. 
His  old  butler  recounts  the  good-tempered  dismay  with 
which  his  faithful  and  attached  servants  (for  Bishop 
Wilberforce  was  ever  kind  to  his  servants,  and  frankly 
apologized  to  them  for  any  hasty  and  impatient  word  of 
his)  greeted  his  sudden  return  to  his  home  after  a  three 
months'  absence,  with  almost  more  than  a  houseful  of 
guests.  Lord  Carlisle  writes  in  his  diary  : — "  I  admire 
and  envy  the  Bishop's  fearless  hospitality,  not  minding 
who  know  each  other,  and  how  they  will  suit,"  Men 


200 


BISHOP  WILBERFOliCE. 


have  laughed  at,  or  spoken  with  sometliing  of  horror 
and  alarm,  of  some  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  friendships 
and  intimacies ;  they  have  urged  that  he  should  have 
consorted  more  with  the  rigidly  orthodox,  and  some- 
what less  with  the  great.  But  he  had  a  marvellous 
faculty  for  mixing  the  apparently  incongruous,  for 
getting  out  of  all  their  best,  for  turning  the  dangerous 
into  the  safe.  He  was  always  striving  to  learn  of  men 
and  from  men,  and  in  this  way  amassed  stores  of  know- 
ledge, which  the  incessant  activity  and  occupation  of 
his  life  forbade  him  to  gather  (even  if  it  could  so  have 
been  gathered)  from  books. 

Bather,  then,  as  a  speaker  and  preacher,  than  as  a 
writer  of  books,  has  Bishop  Wilberforce  intiuenced  the 
thoughts  of  his  countrymen  and  others.  We  have 
already  said  a  few  words  about  his  powers  as  a  speaker ; 
and  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  on  platforms,  at 
congresses,  at  conferences,  and  in  social  and  other 
public  gatherings,  a  speech  from  him  came  to  be  looked 
for,  and  listeaed  to,  with  eager  longing,  and  earnest 
attention.  Many  was  the  good  cause  that  his  eloquence 
carried  forward,  and  lifted  into  popularity ;  not  seldom, 
in  the  days  of  his  difficulties,  did  he  win  a  hearing  from 
a  hostile  meeting,  till  those  who  came  to  hiss  and  oppose 
remained  to  listen  and  applaud.  So  was  it  at  Bradford, 
in  1858,  when  he  went  to  address  a  meeting  where  many 
came  "  to  resist  in  a  voice  of  thunder  the  Tractarian 
confessionals."  He  gained  a  hearing  by  address- 
ing the  turbulent  mob  as  "  Brother  Yorkshiremen  " ; 
having  gained  it  he  kept  it,  and,  to  u.se  the  words  of 
his  biographer,  "  turned  the  angry  crowd  into  an  orderly 
and  enthusiastic  meeting."  So  again  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  he  could,  and  did,  hold  his  own,  and  proved 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  201 


liiiiiself  a  match  for  Lord  Westbury  and  Lord  Derby  in 
speaking  and  in  debate.  He  was  a  power  there  indeed, 
and  well  sustained,  and  even  advanced,  the  reputation 
in  the  matter  of  oratory  wliich  had  come  back  to  his 
order  since  the  day  when  Bishop  Blomfield  caused  one, 
wliose  delight  it  had  been  to  bait  the  bishops  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  to  exclaim  to  a  friend,  "  There  is  a  devil 
of  a  bishop  up  at  last ! "  As  a  chairman.  Bishop 
Wilberforce  was  inimitable ;  quick  to  guide  or  check 
meeting  or  speaker;  skilful  at  bringing  all,  through 
many  risks  and  dangers,  to  a  right  issue.  It  was  his 
Avisdom  and  adroitness  that  saved  many  troubles,  in  the 
infant  days  of  Church  congresses,  by  convincing  those 
who  met  under  his  presidency  at  Oxford  of  the  entire 
inexpediency  of  passing  resolutions  at  those  gatherings. 
"  At  public  meetings,"  writes  a  clergyman  of  the  Oxford 
diocese,  "as  well  as  in  smaller  meetings  of  committee, 
the  decision  (as  has  been  oftert*  noticed)  seemed  almost 
invariably  on  the  side  which  the  Bishop  advocated.  As 
an  opponent  in  argument  he  was  always  most  for- 
midable ;  scarcely  any  one  seemed  able  to  grapple  with 
him.  However  fortified  liis  adversary  might  be  in  facts, 
he  found  himself  unable  to  resist  the  influence  of  the 
Bishop,  and  probably  a  laugh  would  be  raised  by  some 
juke  at  his  expense." 

As  a  preacher,  the  Bishop  was  perhaps  even  more  re- 
markable still  among  his  contemporaries.  We  have  many 
of  his  sermons ;  and  their  clearness,  their  variety,  their 
wealth  of  illustration,  their  appeals,  carrying  conviction 
to  the  mind  and  head,  and  rousing  enthusiasm  through 
the  affections  and  the  heart,  cannot  fail  to  strike  those 
who  read  them  ;  though  they  cannot  lie  under  the  spell 
of  the  "  irresistible  voice,"  that  added  a  vastly  greater 


202 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


force  and  power  to .  these  "  winged  words."  Bishop 
Wilberforce  did  much  by  his  preaching  to  raise  the 
standard  of  the  Church  of  England  in  this  matter.  He 
felt,  as  he  himself  says,  that  the  inquiring  tone  of  the 
times,  and  the  general  activity  of  the  day,  called  for 
thoughtful,  earnest,  careful  sermons,  full  of  reality,  free 
from  affectation,  breaking  through  worldliness  by  the 
stirring  up  of  the  spiritual  affections.  The  utterances 
of  the  pulpit  were,  and  had  been,  in  his  opinion,  "  dull, 
monotonous,  and  droning  " — mere  essays,  and  not  rousing 
appeals.  There  was  a  tendency  in  the  better  under- 
standing of  the  Church's  sacramental  teaching,  and  the 
growing  care  for  worship,  to  disparage  preaching,  "  so 
that  one  of  the  very  chiefest  instruments  which  God 
has  provided  for  the  saving  of  souls  was  likely  through 
carelessness  and  neglect  to  lose  its  efficiency."  ^  It  is 
plain  too  from  many  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  charges, 
that  he  felt  strongly  that  the  growing  idea  that  un- 
written sermons  ought  to  be  preached,  even  by  those 
who  had  no  gift  for  such  preaching,  was  leading  to 
weakness,  to  vapid  utterances,  which  were  but  words, 
and  "the  mere  pouring  off  of  the  first  frothy  surface  of 
the  mind."  For  himself  he  tells  us  that,  with  all  his 
natural  readiness  and  eloquence,  it  was  quite  fifteen 
years  before  he  allowed  himself  to  preach  without 
writing.  He  served  a  long  and  laborious  apprentice- 
ship, and  his  power  and  facility  in  the  pulpit  was, 
after  all,  made,  rather  than  born  in  him.  Canon 
Ashwell  tells  us  how  for  months  together,  in  his  early 
days  at  Brighstone,  the  course  of  preparation  of  each 
sermon  is  specified  and  recorded  in  his  diary,  together 
with  memoranda  as  to  its  efficiency  when  delivered. 
1  Chanje,  1857,  p.  19. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  203 


Often,  and  often,  as  his  diary  records,  he  rose  early  in 
the  morning  to  write  his  sermon ;  and,  says  Dean 
Burgon,  "  even  to  the  last  he  stuck  to  the  practice 
of  at  least  endeavouring  to  commit  to  paper — at  the 
Athenaeum  probably,  or  in  the  train, — what  he  proposed 
to  deliver  from  the  pulpit."  ^  And  again,  to  quote 
from  the  same  source, — "  There  is  no  describing  how 
exquisite  was  his  oratory.  Such  a  delightful  voice  and 
persuasive  mode  of  address  ;  such  a  happy  admixture  of 
argumentative  power  with  rhetorical  skill ;  such  wealth 
of  striking  imagery  and  unrivalled  beauty  of  diction ; 
and  all  this,  recommended  by  the  most  consummate 
grace  and  a  truly  mellifluous  utterance,  made  him 
facile  princeps,  beyond  a  doubt  the  greatest  living 
master  of  his  art."  He  understood  well  his  audience — 
their  capacities,  their  difficulties,  and  their  wants.  To 
undergraduates  in  the  University  church,  to  a  London 
congregation  in  a  West-End  church,  to  the  labourers 
on  his  Lavington  estate,  he  was  alike  acceptable ;  he 
could  fathom  their  wants  and  difficulties ;  he  could  find 
words  to  bring  home  great  truths  and  realities  to  all. 
A  working-man  once  waylaid  him,  as  he  left  the  pulpit 
in  a  crowded  church,  and  explained  how  his  fellows  had 
deputed  him  to  ask  the  Bishop  to  come  and  speak  to 
them  about  religion.  They  trusted  him,  of  all  men,  to 
make  them  feel  and  understand ;  and  the  sequel  tells 
us  that  the  Bishop  werit.^  So  again,  there  exists  a 
humorous  correspondence  in  verse  between  the  Bishop 
and  Dr.  Monsell,  wherein  the  latter's  importunity  gets  a 
promise  from  the  Bishop  that  be  will  come  and  preach 
for  him  at  Egham.  The  Bishoj)  proposes  substitutes, 
but  in  vain. 

^  Lives  of  Twelve  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  40.  ^ 

iii.  p.  33. 


204 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


But  though  Bishop  Wilberforce,  as  much  as  he  could, 
wrote  and  prepared  those  many  great  sermons,  the 
delivering  of  which,  with  an  almost  prodigal  activity 
and  readiness  to  be  spent  in  his  work,  made  him  well- 
known  throughout  England ;  it  was  at  last  most 
common  for  him  to  preach  extempore.  His  diaries 
often  record  how,  after  preparing  a  written  sermon,  on 
entering  the  church  where  it  was  to  be  preached,  he 
would  perceive  that  what  he  intended  to  say  would  be 
unsuitable,  and  then  and  there  change  his  subject. 
Partly,  as  he  said,  because  he  was  nervous,  and  partly 
for  the  sake  of  weaker  brethren  who  were  too  ready  to 
discard  ttie  MS.  which  they  needed,  where  he  did  not, 
he  liked  to  take  something  with  him  into  the  pulpit,  if 
only  a  bundle  of  blank  paper.  But,  even  if  he  had  a 
written  discourse,  he  often  did  not  use  it  at  all,  or  left 
it  to  enlarge  on  some  point  suggested  by  it,  that  struck 
him  as  likely  to  be  useful  at  the  time.  There  is  a  well- 
known  story  which  tells  how,  when  Bishop  Claughton 
asked  him  once  to  let  him  read  again  a  striking  passage, 
in  which  he  had  just  spoken,  in  a  sermon,  of  religious 
perplexity,  the  preacher  handed  him  a  paper  on  which 
was  written  the  single  word  "  fog."  Sometimes  he  would 
exclaim  in  the  vestry  before  service,  to  the  friend  with 
whom  he  was,  if  suddenly  called  upon  to  preach — "  Tell 
me  what  to  say."  A  few  moments  of  concentrated 
thought  would  then  suffice ;  and,  when  the  time  came, 
he  would  set  forth  in  a  most  telling  and  attractive  way 
the  idea  suggested.  Stories  of  his  wonderful  readiness  in 
this  way  are  many.  Once  he  had  undertaken  to  give 
at  Cuddesdon  an  address  on  a  particular  subject;  on  his 
arrival,  the  Vice-Principal  was  horrified  to  find  that  he 
had  entirely  forgotten  that  he  had  promised  to  speak 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  205 


on  any  special  point.  On  being  reminded,  however,  he 
discharged  with  wonderful  ett'ect  the  task  originally 
assigned  to  him.  Again,  coming  to  Ryde,  prepared  to 
preach  for  an  infirmary,  he  learnt  in  the  vestry  that 
his  sermon  had  really  been  promised  for  schools,  and, 
when  the  time  came,  made  a  striking  appeal  on  their 
behalf.  It  was  hard  indeed  to  find  him,  as  a  preacher, 
unready  at  an  emergency  or  unprepared  ;  but  his  readi- 
ness was  nevertheless  the  result  of  painful  and  laborious 
attention  to  this  part  of  his  work,  from  the  time  that 
he  first  took  Holy  Orders,  and  for  long  years  after  that. 

The  subject  of  preaching  is  often  discussed  by  him 
in  his  charges,  and  he  has  much  advice  to  give  con- 
cerning it,  which  has  a  great  and  unique  value  as 
coming  from  one  who  was  in  his  day  such  a  "  master." 
"  His  strength,"  says  Dean  Burgon,  "  lay,  not  so  much 
in  the  exposition  of  obscure  passages  of  Scripture,  or 
in  the  eliciting  of  important  ethical  teaching  from  un- 
promising texts,  as  in  the  living  power  with  which  he 
brought  home  Divine  precepts  to  the  heart  and  con- 
science of  his  auditory."  '  All  this  was  his  own,  and, 
"  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  original " ;  but  he 
reached  this  by  diligent  study  of  the  famous  preachers 
of  the  day.  When  he  first  resided  in  London  he  was 
wont  to  go  about  to  hear  other  men's  sermons,  and  to 
make  careful  notes  of  what  he  heard ;  but  he  was  ever 
a  generous  critic,  quick  to  note  and  praise  excellencies, 
tolerant  of  all  that  was  interesting  and  well-meant,  and 
had  in  it  anything  of  thought  and  meaning ;  though 
he  could  be  unsparing  in  his  criticisms  and  condem- 
nations where  carelessness  and  deadness  evidently  pre- 
vailed. The  experience  he  gained  in  the  matter  caused 
^  Lives  of  Twelve  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  45. 


206 


BISHOP  WILBERFOKCE. 


him  to  give  counsels  such  as  these.  He  told  his  clergy 
that  to  prepare  their  sermons  they  must  first  prepare 
themselves,  and  in  his  Charge  for  18G3  expresses  him- 
self thus — "  It  is,  I  believe,  mainly  idleness  which  ruins 
sermons,  which  makes  them  vague,  confused,  powerless, 
and  dull.  We  need  ever  to  remember  the  somewhat 
caustic  words,  'The  sermon  which  has  cost  little  is 
worth  just  what  it  cost.'  "  And  again — "  Suffer  me  to 
i-ecapitulate  in  the  form  of  a  few  direct  counsels  what, 
on  this  great  subject,  I  have  gathered  from  experience 
or  the  writings  of  others.  To  secure  thought  and 
preparation,  begin,  whenever  it  is  possible,  the  next 
Sunday's  sermon  at  least  on  the  preceding  Monday. 
Let  prayer  for  God's  help  be  the  beginning.  Then 
select  carefully  your  subject — if  possible  from  the 
Gospel,  Epistle,  Lessons  or  Psalms  of  the  day.  Choose 
it  according  to  your  people's  need,  and  your  power. 
Let  it  be  as  much  as  possible  resolvable  into  a  single 
proposition.  Having  chosen  it,  meditate  upon  it  as 
deeply  as  you  can.  Consider,  first,  how  to  state  cor- 
rectly the  theological  formula  which  it  involves ;  then 
how  to  arrange  its  parts  so  as  to  convince  the  hearer's 
understanding.  Think,  next,  how  you  can  move  his 
affections,  and  so  win  his  will  to  accept  it.  See  into 
what  practical  conclusions  of  holy  living  you  can  sum 
it  up.  Having  thus  the  whole  before  you,  you  may 
proceed  to  its  actual  composition.  And  in  doing  this, 
if  any  thoughts  strike  you  with  peculiar  power,  secure 
them  at  once.  .  .  .  Until  you  have  preacheil  for  many 
years,  I  would  say,  set  yourself  to  write  at  least  one 
sermon  weekly.  Study  with  especial  care  all  statements 
of  doctrine ;  to  be  clear,  particular,  and  accurate.  .  . 
Having  written 'your  sermons,  if  you  must  deliver  them 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  207 


■with  the  manuscript  before  you,  strive  to  do  it  as  little 
as  if  you  were  reading,  and  as  much  as  if  you  were 
speaking  them  as  possible.  Do  not  be  the  slave  of 
your  manuscript,  but  make  it  your  servant.  If  you  see 
that  a  word  is  not  understood,  vary  it ;  that  an  appeal 
is  reaching  some  heart,  press  it  home.  If  you  have  the 
gift,  after  having  written  your  sermon  carefully,  make 
sliort  notes  of  it  and  preach  from  these.  This  will  help 
you  greatly  to  show  in  your  manner  that  you  feel  what 
you  say — the  first  and  chiefest  rule  for  making  it  felt 
by  others."  ^  Such  are  Bishop  Wilberforce's  words 
about  preaching;  and  they  are  worth  quoting,  and 
worth  studying,  for  they  concern,  and  more  or  less 
contain,  the  secret  of  that  which  was  perhaps  his  most 
eflfective  weapon  for  guiding,  influencing,  and  instruct- 
ing the  minds  of  many  different  men.  Thousands 
came  under  the  spell  of  the  majestic  presence,  the 
marvellous  voice,  the  wonderful  eloquence  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce,  as  he  preached  to  them,  now  in  the 
village  church,  now  in  the  crowded  city,  touching  all 
classes  and  kinds  of  men  alike — learned  and  iofnorant, 
gentle  and  simple,  rich  and  poor. 

A  story  is  told  illustrating  his  evident  appreciation 
of  other  men's  trials  and  temptations,  when  he  spoke 
on  these  subjects  in  his  sermons  and  addresses.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  re-opening  of  a  restored  church,  the 
Bishop  was  thanking  the  churchwarden,  an  old  farmer, 
for  his  share  in  the  good  work.  "And  I  must  thank 
your  Lordship  for  your  sermon,"  was  the  reply.  "  But 
I  could  not  help  thinking,  as  you  talked  about  sin, 
that  your  Lordship  must  have  been  a  little  wildish 
yourself  when  you  were  a  young  man."  In  their 
1  Charge,  1863,  p.  83. 


208 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


knowledge  of  human  nature,  in  their  earnestness,  in 
their  clear  and  full  assertion  of  truth,  Bishop  Wilber- 
force's  sermons  had  a  great  influence  indeed  on  the 
thought  of  his  time ;  and,  written  and  unwritten, 
published  and  unpublished,  must  be  regarded  as  a 
distinct  and  valuable  part  of  the  literary  activity  of 
the  day,  brought  home  as  they  were  to  many  by  the 
great  gifts  and  striking  personality  of  the  man  who 
delivered  them. 

A  kindly,  appreciative,  and  sympathetic  picture  of 
the  man,  as  he  was  known  by  those  who  knew  him 
best,  is  drawn  by  Dean  Burgon  in  his  TAves  of  Twelve 
Good  Men.    '  There  was,"  writes  the  author  of  this 
pleasant  sketch,  "  a  rare  amount  of  real  sympathy  be- 
tween him  and  myself  in  matters  of  religious  thought 
and  opinion ; "  and   some  of  those  who  were  most 
closely  attached  to  Bishop  Wilberforce  testify  that  the 
Dean's  kindly  pen  has  done  a  fair  measure  of  justice 
to    his  friend's  character.     To  men   who  were  not 
strongly  set  against  him  from  principle  or  prejudice, 
Samuel  Wilberforce  was  singularly  attractive.    He  had 
a  happy  knack  of  drawing  the  best  out  of  those  who 
were  under  him ;  he  showed  that  he  expected  earnest 
effort,  and  respected  it  too ;  he  always  backed  men  up 
who  were  working,  even  if  they  got  into  scrapes  and 
made  mistakes.    Gradually  there  gathered  round  him, 
in  his  Oxford  diocese,  a  band  of  devoted  men  ready 
to  do  their  utmost  to  carry  out  their  leader's  plans. 
He  was  wont  to  call  the  "  inner  circle "  of  these  his 
"  body-guard,"  and  it  was  his  delight  to  gather  them 
around  him,  and  to  feel,  and  show,  that  with  them 
he  could  be  frank  and  open,  and  live  in  pleasant 
intercourse,  fearless  of  misunderstanding,  and  without 


LITEBARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  209 


constraint.  He  rejoiced  unfeignedly  in  their  successes, 
and  appreciated  thoroughly  their  strong  points,  and 
was  eager  to  hold  up  to  admiration  (as,  for  instance,  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Woodford's  preaching)  that  which  they 
did  well.  But  the  tongue  that  could  praise,  where 
praise  was  due,  could  also  rebuke  terribly  sometimes, 
and  was  not  afraid  to  speak  out.  Thus,  as  Dean 
Burgon  writes,  "  the  men  who  neglected  their  parishes, 
their  churches,  their  work — they  hated  him  with  a 
cordial  hatred."  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  a  wonderful 
kindler  of  enthusiasm ;  and  those  who  knew  him  and 
worked  under  him  grow  enthusiastic  still,  as  they  tell 
you  of  his  making  some  new  departure  or  experiment 
in  Church  work,  or  quietly  crushing  and  paralyzing 
a  formidable  opposition,  or  defeating  a  dogged  and 
obstinate  obstruction. 

It  was  natural,  indeed  necessary,  that  one  who  did 
so  much  to  quicken  the  devotional  and  spiritual  life 
of  others,  should  himself  have  the  devotional  side  of  his 
nature  strongly  developed  and  carefully  trained.  His 
diaries,  and  his  addresses  to  his  candidates  for  Orders, 
let  us  see  that  he  gave  himself,  and  desired  to  lead 
others  to  give  themselves,  much  to  prayer  and  com- 
munings with  God.  He  made  a  great  deal  of  the  more 
spiritual  side  of  the  training  given  at  Cuddesdon 
College;  he  shared  in  its  opportunities  and  privileges 
when  he  was  at  home,  A  story  is  told  of  his  remark- 
ing, when  some  were  discussing  in  his  presence  the 
obligations  of  the  clergy  to  say  daily  the  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer,  that  he  had  found  four  o'clock  a  good 
time  to  say  the  evening  office,  in  a  cab.  One  who 
often  had  the  opportunity  of  observing,  writes — "His 
devoutness  iu  cummunicating  must  have  struck  all 


210 


BISHOP  WlLljERFOIICE. 


who  were  ministering  with  him.  He  evidently  made  it 
au  occasion  for  prolonged  and  special  prayer — furnishing 
himself  with  a  manual  partly  printed,  partly  written. 
He  always  seemed  to  me  absorbed  in  the  business  of  the 
sanctijaiy."  ^  His  work  and  life  were  based  then  on  a 
real  and  fervent  appreciation  of  the  high  .'st  tilings. 

Some  one  has  said  that  Bishop  Wilberforce's  best 
testimonial  was  the  afiection  with  which  he  was  plainly 
regarded  by  good  men  of  undoubted  spirituality.  He 
speaks  almost  pathetically  of  his  own  craving  for 
sympathy  and  affection,  and  it  is  plain  that,  while  he 
showed  it  abundantly  to  others,  he  rejoiced  and  desired 
to  have  it  returned.  The  bereavements  which  came  to 
him  were  terrible  blows,  never  forgotten;  his  wife's 
grave,  and  the  resting-place  of  his  "  best-beloved  son," 
were  sacred  spots,  and  to  the  last  he  was  accustomed 
whenever  he  came  home  to  Lavington,  to  visit  them,  and 
place  flowers  there.  In  all  his  cares  and  business,  he 
was  full  of  thoughts  of  his  children,  anxious  to  an 
uncommon  decree  about  their  amusements  even,  and  all 
their  interests. 

It  was  this  affectionateness  of  disposition  that  inspired 
that  sympathy  which  has  been  picked  out  as  the  strong 
point  in  his  character.  Bishop  Wilberforce,  by  nature, 
by  training,  by  the  experience  of  his  life,  with  its  many 
successes,  its  great  sorrows,  and  its  bitter  disappoint- 
ments, was  made  to  help  other  men  to  bear  their 
burdens,  and  to  put  himself  into  their  place.  He  could 
lend  his  wonderful  powers  to  enhance  the  joys  of  a  time 
of  happiness,  or  to  soothe  the  bitterness  of  an  hour  of 
sorrow.  There  is  quite  a  marvel  of  thoughtful,  hopeful 
tenderness  in  many  of  the  letters  of  condolence  tliat  he 
1  Lives  of  Txvdtx  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  60. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  211 


wrote ;  it  is  good  to  read  of  his  enjoyment  of  a  Chi-istmas 
revel  with  his  children  at  Cuddesdon ;  it  is  touching  to 
find  hira  suggesting  rest  to  one  of  his  plainly  over- 
worked clergy,  and,  with  much  tact  and  delicacy,  sending 
timely  help  to  one  with  narrow  means.  The  same 
power  of  sympathy,  too,  would  make  him  do  many  little 
kindnesses,  showing,  for  instance,  special  hospitality  to 
the  more  friendless  of  the  Cuddesdon  students,  drawing 
out  the  more  shy  amongst  his  candidates  for  Ordination, 
setting  himself  at  the  end  of  a  long  and  laborious  day 
to  read  for  the  entertainment  of  guests  ia  some  house 
where  he  was  staying.  In  all  these  ways  he  conciliated 
many,  even  of  those  who  were  inclined  to  regard  him 
with  suspicion,  or  possibly  dislike  ;  and  he  could  disarm 
prejudice  with  that  happy  temper,  which  Lord  Derby 
once  observed  and  welcomed,  when  he  remarked,  "I  see 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  can  take  a  joke."  So  wide 
indeed  was  his  sympathy,  so  all-inclusive,  that  some  who 
had  tasted  of  it  were  apt  to  feel  disappointed,  and  to 
doubt  its  reality,  when  they  found  with  how  many  their 
privilege  was  shared. 

The  Bishop  was  remarkable  for  his  power  of  remem- 
bering men  and  their  names,  and  he  increased  his 
capability  in  this  respect  by  practice.  It  was  not 
uncommon  for  clergy  and  others  to  be  much  surprised 
to  find  themselves  not  forgotten  by  the  Bishop,  though 
years  perhaps  had  passed  since  they  had  met  him.  A 
lady  who  had  once  met  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  after  a 
Confirmation  in  his  diocese,  was  waiting  soon  after  to 
cross  at  tlie  top  of  Regent  Street.  She  was  surprised 
to  hear  some  one  saying  to  her,  "  You  seem  in  difficulties, 

Miss  ;  let  me  help  you."    It  was  the  Bishop,  who 

piloted  her  safely  to  the  other  side.    An  amusing  story 


212 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


is  also  told,  illustrating  how  this  instinct  was  sometimes 
at  fault.  At  a  Confirmation,  Bishop  Wilberforce  saw  a 
boy  amongst  the  candidates,  whom  he  felt  sure  he  had 
confirmed  before.  He  sent  a  message  to  him  to  say  so, 
and  received  a  denial.  Still  unconvinced,  he  sent  the 
clergyman  who  presented  the  candidate  to  say  that  the 
Bishop  was  sure  he  had  confirmed  him  before.  "  Tell  him 
he  is  a  liar,"  was  the  response.  His  skill  in  recognitions 
was,  however,  no  small  element  in  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's 
influence  with  people.  It  was  with  many  a  cause  of 
wonder,  and  so  common  and  remarkable  that  stories 
were  current  to  account  for  it,  as  that  the  Bishop  kept 
photographs  of  his  clergy,  and  carefully  studied  before- 
hand those  belonging  to  any  district  he  meant  to  visit. 
Again,  there  is  a  story  of  the  Bishop,  after  leaving  his 
diocese,  meeting  one  of  his  old  clergy,  and  astonishing 
his  chaplain,  who  was  with  him,  by  the  wonderful 
memory  that  could  bring  him  to  ask  the  stranger  after 
"  the  old  gray  horse."  The  story  goes  on  to  say  that,  on 
further  inquiry  being  made  as  to  how  the  Bishop  could 
have  thought  of  it,  the  answer  was,  "  Did  you  not  see 
the  hair  on  his  coat  ? " 

There  was  in  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  too,  in  spite  of  his 
labours,  his  sorrows,  and  his  anxieties,  a  wonderful 
elasticity  of  spirits,  an  almost  boyish  gaiety,  and  even 
boisterousness ;  often  it  was  but  the  reaction,  it  is  true, 
from  deep  depression,  or  the  light  cloak  that  concealed 
a  world  of  sorrow.  People  saw,  as  his  biographer  says, 
a  quickness  of  transition  in  his  moods,  according  with 
the  mood  of  those  around  him,  which  must  have  per- 
plexed, and  often  did  perplex,  comparative  strangers,  or 
persons  of  less  susceptible  dispositions.^  "  Often,"  he 
1  Life,  i.  p.  178. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  213 


writes  to  a  friend,  "when  I  seem  the  gayest,  I  am 
indeed  the  most  utterly  sad."  But,  any  way,  the  Bishop 
had  a  great  facility  for  leaving  his  cares ;  and  though, 
in  his  later  years,  illness  left  him  much  less  able  to 
overcome  depression,  that  facility  stood  him  in  good 
stead  in  the  wear  and  tear  and  worry  of  his  laborious 
life.  Dean  Burgon's  story  of  the  way  in  which  he 
"  took  a  blessing  from  him  "  by  playfully  pinning  him 
to  the  wall  outside  All  Souls',  and  forcing  him  to  say, 
"God  bless  you,"  on  his  translation  to  Winchester,  illus- 
trates the  trait  in  Bishop  Wilberforce's  character  to 
which  reference  is  made.  So,  too,  does  the  story  of 
his  ride  with  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  which  he 
gave  bis  brother  bishop  a  lead  over  the  hedge  by  the 
roadside. 

The  same  playfulness  of  spirit  appeared  in  the 
Bishop's  conversation,  in  his  jokes,  his  stories,  and  his 
quiet  repartees.  He  became  almost  proverbial  for 
these ;  and,  though  there  are  many  and  many  that  are 
ascribed  to  him  which  he  did  not  say,  or  use,  or  make, 
still,  in  his  lighter  moments,  there  would  always  be  an 
abundance  of  good  things  of  this  sort  going  about 
where  he  was.  Here  again  Dean  Burgon  tells  how 
many  recollections  there  are  with  those  who  knew 
him,  of  incidents  "  which  can  only  be  designated  as 
laughable.  He  was  so  full  of  boyish  spirits,  boyish  glee, 
so  versatile  moreover,  and  apt  (without  real  levity)  to 
descend  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous  in  a 
moment."  There  were  those,  of  course,  who  thousfht  all 
this  ill-timed,  and  out  of  place ;  they  were  inclined  to 
regard  it,  not  as  the  lawful  and  happy  recreation  of  a 
busy  and  devoted  life,  but  as  ill-suited  to  the  high 
calling  of  a  bishop.    One  story  may  be  told  here  which 


214 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


illustrates  the  Bishop's  readiness  in  answer  and 
defence.  Every  one  knows  that,  early  in  his  career  as 
Bishop,  some  person  or  persons  gave  him  the  sobriquet 
of  "  Soapy  Sam."  A  lady  once  asked  him  why  he  was 
called  thus.  "  Because,  madam,"  he  answered,  "  I  am 
always  in  hot  water,  and  always  come  out  of  it  with  clean 
hands." 

Bishop  Wilberforce  had,  and  has,  a  great  reputation 
for  his  witty  speeches,  his  good  stories,  and  his  jokes. 
A  ruthless  literalness  has  exploded  many  of  them ;  as, 
for  instance,  his  reported  answer  to  a  lady  who  asked 
him  who  were  the  two  best  preachers  of  the  day. 
"  Why,  madam,  think  of  a  part  of  your  dress," — mean- 
ing hook-and-eye.  Some  he  has  been  heard  to  deny, 
as  that  he  capped  Lord  Palmerston's  rallying  of  him 
from  his  carriage,  when  the  Bishop  had  preferred  to 
walk  to  church  on  a  wet  day.  Lord  Palmerston  is  said 
to  have  quoted  at  the  Bishop  the  line,  "  How  blest  is 
he,  who  ne'er  consents  by  ill  advice  to  walk."  The 
Bishop  quoted  the  next,  in  playful  reference  to  his 
host's  carriage,  "Nor  stands  in  sinners'  way,  nor  sits 
where  men  profanely  talk."  Many  of  his  jokes  are  too 
personal  to  bear  repetition  in  the  lifetime  of  those  at 
whose  expense  they  were,  in  all  good-humour,  made. 
But  it  is  to  the  point  to  give  from  various  sources 
illustrations  of  a  side  of  Bishop  Wilberforce's  character 
which  added  a  great  deal  to  his  acceptability  with,  and 
influence  upon,  his  contemporaries.  Dean  Burgon 
describes  him,  at  his  own  table,  turning  round  to  his 
neighbour,  Archdeacon  Gierke,  and  asking  him  why 
an  Archdeacon's  apron  is  like  unwholesome  food  ?  and 
supplying  the  answer — "Because  it  goes  against  his 
stomach."    He  also  tells  vis  of  his  reply  to  an  inquiry 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  215 


whether  he  had  not  cancer  in  his  mouth — "Yes,  to 
be  sure,  u)hen  I'm  eating  crab."  The  same  authority 
speaks  of  this  readiness  of  wit,  even  in  the  Bishop's 
early  days.  Once  when  his  tutor  appeared  with  rod 
in  hand  on  a  scene  of  disorder,  Wilberforce  thrust 
forward  a  certain  Jewish  schoolfeUow  with  the  plea, 
"  The  Jew  first,  and  then  the  Gentile."  Hearing  a 
young  man  describe  how  he  had  the  misfortune  to  slay 
a  deer  when  permitted  to  shoot  rabbits  in  the  royal 
park,  Bishop  Wilberforce  expressed  a  hope  that  after 
that  the  authorities  did  not  give  the  offender  the  cold 
shmddcr.  So  again,  to  a  mechanic,  thinking  to  con- 
found him  by  asking  suddenly  the  way  to  lieaven,  the 
Bishop  at  once  replied,  "Turn  to  the  right,  and  go, 
my  friend,  straight  on."  After  tlie  Bishop  of  Peter- 
borough's great  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the 
Irish  Church,  the  speaker's  hat  was  inadvertently  taken 
up  by  Bishop  Wilberforce.  On  being  reminded  of  his 
mistake  the  Bishop  surrendered  it,  remarking  grace- 
fully, that  he  wished  he  had  the  brains  which  the  hat 
rightfully  covered.  So  was  it  given  to  Bishop  Wilber- 
force to  conciliate  many  by  his  happy  power  of  saying 
bright  and  pleasant  things. 

Beyond  all  this,  which  we  have  mentioned, — a 
result  perhaps  of  his  wide  sympathies,  his  power  of 
winning  men,  and  his  capacity  for  getting  recreation — 
was  Bishop  Wilberforce's  readiness  for  hard  work.  In 
his  Oxford  days  he  did  not  a  little  in  giving  help  to 
other  bishops  in  their  diocesan  labours;  and,  on  his 
translation  to  Winchester,  a  near  relation  said,  that  his 
larger  spliere  of  work  would,  at  any  rate,  save  him  from 
being  "  a  hack  bishop  "  any  longer.  Work  brought  him 
relief  in  some  of  those  great  troubles  that  clouded  his 


216 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


life.  Far  from  allowing  them  to  keep  Lim,  even  for 
a  time,  inactive,  he  carried  his  heavy  heart  at  once  to  the 
routine  of  duty,  and  found  in  this  way  the  true  solace ; 
though  he  writes  in  his  diary  at  one  such  time  of  trouble, 
"  Very  weary  at  night,  a  sad  heart  so  increases  fatigue." 
There  is  a  striking  passage,  bearing  on  this  habit  of 
his  of  resuming  his  wonted  occupations  when  in  trouble 
in  a  letter  from  Archdeacon  Randall  to  the  Rev. 
R.  C.  Trench,  written  just  at  the  time  when  the 
Bishop  lost  his  eldest  son.  The  letter  has  described  his 
many  engagements,  which  the  Bishop  was  even  then 
fulfilling,  and  the  writer  adds — '■'  These  details  will 
make  you  fear,  as  I  do,  that  all  this  must  be  a  heavy 
wear  and  tear  upon  the  inward  man.  But  what  an 
astonishing  creature  he  is  !  what  is  he  made  of?  what 
is  he  made  for^  Surely  there  must  be  some  great 
purpose  for  him  to  fulfil."  ^  We  find  some  answer  to  the 
Archdeacon's  question,  in  the  recollection  that  Bishop 
Wilberforce  was  pre-eminently  the  man  who  steered 
the  Church  of  England  some  way  along  the  safe  course, 
in  a  time  of  crisis,  and  brought  her  out  at  least  into  a 
place  of  greater  liberty.  He  was  ready  to  spend  and  be 
spent  ungrudgingly  in  this,  which  seemed  to  him  the, 
want  and  necessity  of  his  day ;  and,  as  is  usual  with  men 
who  give  themselves  wholly  to  any  work  or  cause,  he 
was  able  to  get  through  so  much,  that  men  were  fairly 
astonished  at  all  he  accomplished.  The  trouble  in- 
volved, the  opposition  that  threatened,  the  novelty  of 
an  undertaking,  never  deterred  Bishop  Wilberforce 
from  any  departure,  which  his  clearness  of  perception 
made  him  see  to  be  desirable,  in  Church  life  or 
Church  work.  Of  course  he  made  some  mistakes,  and 
1  ii/t,  ii.  p.  311. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  217 


incurred  some  grievous  defeats;  but  he  brought  much 
out  to  a  real  success,  largely  because  of  his  untiring 
energy,  and  readiness  for  laborious  work.  Not  only 
could  he  plan,  and  organize,  but  details  even  were 
not  trifles  in  his  eyes — a  fortunate  circumstance  indeed, 
when  the  smallest  defect  might  well  have  given 
opportunity  to  prejudice,  to  timidity,  to  suspicion,  to 
wreck  utterly  some  of  his  most  important  efforts  after 
Church  growth  and  development. 

But  Dean  Burgon  has  reminded  us  that  there  is 
another  side — or  at  least  that  there  has  seemed  to  many 
to  be  another  side — to  the  character  of  the  great  Bishop 
of  Oxford.  Men  have  often  questioned  the  motives  of 
some  of  the  Bishop's  actions,  and  accused  him  of  acting 
from  expediency,and  being  a  man  of  the  world.  His  quick 
changes  from  grave  to  gay  have  troubled  them,  and  his 
social  successes  and  reputation  have  been  regarded 
(specially  by  men  disposed  to  judge  him  hardly)  as  un- 
becoming a  really  spiritual  and  deeply  religious  man. 
Dean  Burgon  speaks  from  the  point  of  view  of  one  who 
knew  him  intimately  and  well.  He  has  shown  abun- 
dantly that  he  had  the  entire  respect,  and  the  full  con- 
fidence and  affection,  of  the  band  of  true,  earnest,  and 
devoted  men,  who  have  the  best  right,  from  their  close 
intercourse  with  him,  to  speak  of  him  as  he  really  was. 
He  was  clearly  too  great  to  escape  detraction,  and  even 
envy;  and  it  is  only  natural,  perhaps  right,  that  consci- 
entious men,  who  dreaded  many  of  his  ideas  as  danger- 
ous to  Church  and  State,  should  have  been  glad  to  hear 
whispers  against  him,  and  above  all,  to  disparage  him  in 
high  places.  Cautious,  Bishop  Wilberforce  was  not  ;  he 
learnt  a  lesson  certainly  in  this  respect,  notably  from 
the  Hampden  case.   "  Sure  of  himself,  and  unsuspicious 


218 


BISHOP  WILBERFORCE. 


of  others,  he  was  habitually  too  confiding,  too  un- 
guarded in  his  utterances."  So  writes  Dean  Burgon, 
and  he  adds — "  But  above  all,  his  besetting  fault  was 
that  he  was  a  vast  deal  too  facile.  The  consequence 
might  have  been  foreseen.  He  was  sometimes  obliged 
to  '  hark  back ' — to  revoke — to  unsay.  Tliis  occasioned 
distrust."  It  was  no  small  matter,  and  no  easy  task, 
for  Bishop  Wilberforce,  with  his  quick  wit  and  ready 
tongue,  to  prevent  himself  from  saying  much  too  often 
those  smart  things  which  leave  a  sting  behind  them. 
He  tells  us  plainly  that  he  had  to  put  a  strong  re- 
straint upon  himself  in  this  matter,  specially  as  a 
speaker  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  often  regrets  that 
he  has  been  betrayed  into  saying  what  might  seem 
unkindly.  Detraction,  calumny,  and  misrepresentation 
were  very  bitter  to  him,  and  it  hurt  his  affectionate 
nature  very  deeply  to  have  to  be  out  with  any  man. 
His  own  words  on  this  point  are — "I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  sharp  frosts  of  suspicion  and  detraction  are  speci- 
ally useful  to  those  who,  like  me,  naturally  crave  for 
sympathy,  and  shoot  out  too  readily  the  tendrils  of 
atFection ;  but  certainly,  the  process  of  being  frost- 
nipped,  though  useful,  is  painful  enough  to  the  shoot- 
bearer,  and  often  makes  me  long,  if  my  boys  were 
launched,  to  lie  down  and  die."  i  fcieveral  times  in  his 
life,  the  Bishop  was  obliged  to  make  his  defence.  But 
he  was  able,  as  in  the  Hampden  difficulty,  in  the  Boyne 
Hill  case,  in  the  controversy  with  Mr.  Golightly,  to 
make  it  clear  that  he  had  a  pure  and  disinterested 
motive.  There  may  have  been  unwisdom  and  want  of 
judgment;  but  a  principle  lay  behind  his  action  all 
through,  and  a  real  desire  to  do  his  duty  by  the  Church. 
1  Lices  of  Tvxhe  Good  Men,  ii.  p.  66. 


LITERARY  INFLUENCE  AND  PERSONALITY.  219 


It  cannot  be  surprising  that  a  character,  versatile  and 
mobile  as  his  was,  slmuld  have  puzzled  and  caused 
offence  to  many.  Ordinary  human  nature  may  well 
stand  excused  if  it  failed  to  understand  how  any  one 
could  be  so  many  things  to  so  many  men,  and  yet  be 
no  actor,  but  true  to  his  best  self  all  the  while. 
Circumstances  were  sure  to  give  them  many  oppor- 
tunities for  having  their  wonder  and  astonishment 
turned  into  horror,  mistrust,  and  even  into  absolute 
want  of  confidence.  Fearless,  outspoken,  trusting  much 
to  his  own  great  powers,  and  his  personal  influence, 
Bishop  Wilberforce  did  sometimes  say  too  much,  go  too 
far,  and,  above  all  things,  give  too  much  freedom  to 
men  who  needed  rather  restraint.  All  these  things 
marred,  and  hindered,  the  carrying  out  of  some  of  the 
projects  with  which  he  identified  himself.  It  was  not 
a  small  disability,  in  the  temper  and  tone  of  the  day  in 
which  he  lived,  that  so  many  of  his  family  and  friends 
seceded  to  Rome.  He  rather  forgot  the  weakness  that 
this  could  not  fail  to  cause,  and  the  suspicion  it  could 
not  fail  to  arouse.  Tlie  consciousness  of  his  own 
integrity;  his  unfeigned  horror  of  Roman  error,  and 
the  Roman  system;  the  great  powers  that  he  knew 
were  his — all  went  to  blind  him  to  the  consequences  to 
himself  and  his  work  of  these  defections.  So  Bishop 
Wilberforce  never  sat  in  St.  Augustine's  chair.  But 
he  did  give  to  the  work  and  office  of  a  bishop  in  the 
Church  of  England  a  new  meaning;  he  gave  Church 
life  a  new  enthusiasm  and  reality;  he  laboured  abun- 
dantly amongst  those  who,  in  the  last  fifty  years,  have 
done  so  very  much  to  make  the  great  Anglican 
Communion  able  to  feel  its  great  mission,  and  eager  to 
accept  its  high   destiny.     Looking  back   now,  and 


220 


BISHOP  WILBEEFORCE. 


contrasting  the  Church  of  England  as  it  is  with  what 
it  was  when  Samuel  Wilberforce  was  called,  in  1845,  to 
the  See  of  Oxford,  one  wonders  how  she  has  come  safely 
through  so  many  dangers.  His  life  and  work  are  no 
small  part  of  the  answer  to  such  a  question.  His  gifts, 
his  knowledge  of  men,  his  appreciation  of  his  Church — 
all  these  have  done  much,  very  much,  to  make  it 
possible  that  that  Church  should  live,  and  move 
onward,  in  very  stormy  waters,  on  very  troubled  seas. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  July  19th,  1873,  an  accident, 
while  riding  on  the  Surrey  Downs,  took  away  from  the 
great  work  of  organizing  his  still  new  diocese  of 
Winchester,  the  man  who  had  laboured  at  Oxford  to 
show  what  being  a  bishop  really  meant.  For  himself 
it  was  as  he  would  have  had  it ;  he  desired  that  thus,  if 
it  might  be,  the  night  should  come  to  him  "  in  which  no 
man  can  work."  For  others  there  seemed  a  great 
blank,  a  desolation,  a  power  passed  from  earth.  A 
hand  which  had  pointed  men  upward,  would  point  them 
upward  no  more.  Men  told  each  other,  as  the  tidings  of 
his  sudden  death  spread  through  the  country,  that 
another  great  Englishman  was  dead,  and  one  who  had 
truly  "  served  his  generation,"  before  he  fell  asleep. 


INDEX. 


Aberdeen,  Lord,  71,  123,  124-5, 

127-8,  130-1 
Aldeison,  Baron,  88 
Allies,  Mr.,  87-8,  138 
Alverstoke,  25-6,  46 
Anderson,  Sir  C,  5, 15, 16, 17, 183 
Anson,  Mr.,  67 

Apostolic  Ministry,   17,  45,  90, 

103,  107,  189 
Arches,  Court  of,  80,  142 
Ashwell,  Canon,  4,  6,  10,  54,  56, 

63,  69,  78,  141,  196,  202 
Athanasian  Creed,  154,  185 

Bagot,  Bishop,  41 
Beauchamp,  Lord,  184  ' 
Bennett,  Mr.,  74,  116,  138,  175-6 
Blomfield,  Bi.shop,  109,  113,  130, 

139,  165,  175,  201 
Board  of  Education,  Diocesan,  60 
Boyne  Hill  Case,  97,  106 
Bradford,  68,  200 
British  Association,  69,  147 
Bioad  Church  J'arty,  149,  154 
Brougham,  Lord,  r?7 
Bunsen,  Baron,  19,  30,  43,  149 
Burgon,  Dean,  1,  6,  8,  24,  33,  47, 

54,  71,  73,  80,  82,  149,  185,  186, 

197,  205,  208,  209,  213 
Butler,  Canon,  66,  85,  105 

Calthorpe,  Lord,  18 
Cambridge,  63,  69 
Canadian  Clergy  Reserves,  166 
Canons,  alteration  of,  134 


Capetown,  Bishop  of,  69,  155 

Carlisle,  Lord,  199 

Cathedrals  29 

Church  Congress,  201 

Church  Missionary  Society,  19, 

63,  164 
Church  Unions,  117 
Clapham  Sect,  9 
Clerical  Subscription,  145 
Clewer,  65 

Colenso,  Bishop,  155-161 
Coleridge,  Mr.  Justice,  96 
Colonial  Bishops,  159,  164-6 
Colonial  Church,  30,  63 
Commission  on  Ritual,  183-5 
Confession,  97,  98,  105 
Confirmation,  2.5,  52-4,  212 
Consort,  the  Prince,  31,  86,  G9, 
89,  125 

Convocation,  31  ;  Revival  of,  119- 
136 ;  Proposed  Commission  on, 
126-7  ;  on  Bishop  Colonso,  160 ; 
on  Ritualism,  179 

Corn  Laws,  67 

Cudde-sdon,  .36,  41-2,  51,  58,  59, 
60,  100-106,  147,  198,  204,  209, 
211 

Cm-ates,  61,  64 

Darwin,  Mr.  C,  146-7 
Denison,    Archdeacon,   59,  126, 
138 

Derby,  Lord,  120,  182,  201,  211 
Dioce.sau    Church  Building  So- 
ciety, Gl 


222 


INDEX. 


Diocesan  Conferences,  62 
Diocesan  Svnod,  62 
Disraeli,  191 
Divorce  Act,  154,  190 
Dotison,  Sir  John,  119 
Dodsworth,  Mr.,  95 
Doubt,  152 

Eastern  Church,  118,  193 
Ecclesiastical  Coram's-sion,  29 
Ecclesiastical    Courts,  137-140, 
155,  171 

Education,  23,  24,  59-60,  69, 
190 

Elliot,  Dean,  128 
Essai/s  and  Reviews,  139,  142- 
154 

Eucharistic  Doctrine,  87,  91-2, 
105,  173 

Evangelical  Party,  71-2,  93,  101- 

5,  124,  12S,  142 
Excommunication,  159,  160 

Factory  Act,  68 
Fasting  Communion,  186 
Free-trade,  38 
Fust,  Sir  H.  J.,  79 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  40-1,  118-19, 
121,  131,  1.32,  138,  140,  141, 
175,  181,  1S7,  191-2 

Golii^htly,  Mr.  C.  P.,  5,  102-105, 

218 

Gordon,  Mr.,  162 
Gorhara  Judgment,  78,  84,  90, 
116,  137,  139 

Hampden,  Dr.,  17,  75—84,  108, 

141,  217 
Hawkius,  Dr.,  81 
Hii;Ii  Church  Party,  93,  154 
Hoadley,  Bishop,  il2 
Holy  Orders,  Training  for,  99-100 
Hook,  Dean,  5,  19,  24,  25,  43, 

113,  141,  197 
Hooker,  Richard,  65,  72,  86,  184 
Howley,  Archbishop,  76,  81 

Inspiration,  142,  150-1 
Irish  Church,  190-3 


J ERUSALEM  Bishopric,  .30 
Judicial  Committee,  74,  137,  158 

Keble,  J.,  94,  96 
Knox,  Mr.,  147 

Lavinqton,  12,  33,  37,  203,  210 
Lectiouary,  New,  131,  183 
Lenten  Sermons,  56 
Liddon,  Canon,  102,  105 
Lonir,  Archdeacon,  157-8 
Lords,  Hou?e  of,  66-7,  111,  117, 
12.3,  13.5,  142,  180,  191,  200-1 
Lushingtou,  Dr.,  88,  139 

Majendie,  Mr.  H.,  193 
Manuiug,  Cardmal,  21 
.ALarriott,  Mr.  C,  93-99 
Maurice,  F.  D.,  19,  149 
Milman,  Bishop,  161 
Jlissions,  Diocesan,  .54-6 
Monsell,  Dr.,  203 

National  Society,  .59 
Newman,  J.  H.,  5,  15,  16,  39,  40 
Noel,  Miss  L.,  38,  47,  67,  78,  87 
Non-communicating  Attendance, 
186 

Nonconformists,  56,  123,  187-8, 
193-4 

Ordinations,  44,  46-9,  55 
O.r  ford  Journal,  opinion  on  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  work,  5 

Palmerston,  Lord,  16,  131 
Patronage,  Diocesan,  63 
Peel,  Sn-  R.,  .35,  38,  40 
Philpntt,  Bishop,  18,  74,  83 
Pott,  Archdeacon,  105 
Powell,  xMr.  Baden,  146 
Preaching,  206-7 

Public  \\  orship  Regulation  Act, 
140 

Pusey,  Dr.,  5,  16,  39,  93-7,  98, 
138,  155 

Quarter!)/  Review,  109,  114,  1.39, 
140,  144,  145,  147,  151,  187, 
197 


INDEX. 


223 


Queen,  the,  31,  36,  38,  7S,  84, 
117,  120,  134 

Raxdall,  Archdeacon,  216 

Rationalism,  143,  150 

Record,  The,  28,  S3,  123,  142,  176 

ReJesdale,  Lord,  117 

Reform  BUI,  13,  llJ,  29,  136 

Reformation,  the,  86,  176 

Retreats,  58 

Ritudism,  169-195 

Royal  Supremacy,  116 

Rural  Deans,  57 

Russell,  Lord  John,  39,  74,  75- 
78,  128 

Sellox,  Miss,  65 
Sehvyu,  Bishop,  30 
Sermons,  202 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  86,  121,  128, 

181,  183 
Sisterhoods,  64-6,  98,  110 
Smith,  Sydney,  143 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 

Gospel,  17,  19,  31,  63 
South  London,  22 
Spiritual  Help  Society,  61,  64 
Stanley,  Dean,  161,  169 
Sterling  Club,  19,  149 
Sumner,  Archbishop,  13,  118-9, 

121,  122,  129-30,  161,  181 
Sumner,  Bishop,  13,  19,  21,  161 
Sunday  Question,  the,  32,  68 
Synod,  Pan- Anglican,  IGO 


Thompson,  Sir  IL,  162 

Titles  Bill,  74,  90 

Tractarian  Movement,  26-8,  39, 

71,  75,  84,  93,  114 
Tracts  for  the  Times,  15 
Trench,  Archbishop,  25, 191-2,216 

Vestments,  184,  185 

Wastage,  65 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  16,  164 
Wesley,  John,  178 
Westbury,  Lord,  135,  142,  165-6, 
201 

Wilberforce,  Bishop,  divisions  of 
his  life,  6,  7  ;  school  days,  10 ; 
Oriel,  11  ;  marriage,  12 ;  or- 
dination, 12  ;  first  curacy,  12  ; 
Brighstone,  13-14 ;  his  Tory- 
ism,   14  ;  literary  work,  15  ; 
Rural  Dean,  18  ;  Archdeacon, 
21-24  ;       Alverstoke,      25-6  ; 
speeches,  31 ,  68 ;  wife's  death, 
33 — 35  ;      consecration,     37  ; 
Natural  History,  love  of,  147  ; 
writings,  197-8  ;  death,  220 
V.  ilbei-foice,  Henry,  9 
Wilbej  force,  iAIrs.,  12,  33-5 
Wilberforce,  R  G.,  68 
WUbei  force,  Robert,  9,  32,  94,  114 
Wilbeiforce,  William,  9,  10-12,  89 
Wilson,  Mr.,  144 
^Visenlan,  Cardinal,  90 
Woodford,  Bishop,  49,  209 


THE  END. 


Richard  Clay  &  Soys,  Limitbd, 

LOXDON  6  BlNCAY. 


